GIFT   OF 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln 
An  Infidel? 


THE  RELIGIOUS  CHARACTER  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AS  IT 

APPEARS  IN  THE  LIGHT  OF  HIS  SPOKEN 

AND  WRITTEN  WORD 


COMPILED  AND  ARRANGED  BY 

CARL  THEODOR  WETTSTEIN 


THE  C.  M.  CLARK  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
BOSTON,  MASSACHUSETTS 


Copyright  1910 

THIS  C.  M.  CLARK  PUBLISHING  Co. 
Boston,  Mass  ,  U.  S.  A. 


All  rights  reserved 


A  Souvenir 

For  the  Forty-fifth  Anniversary  of  the 

Death  of  Abraham  Lincoln 

April  14,  1865 


Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us 
We  can  make  our  lives  sublime, 
And,  departing,  leave  behind  us 
Footprints  on  the  sancis  of  time." 

— Longfellow 


by  rumors  of  a  threatening  war,  and  such  a  dark 
cloud  of  coming  unknown  calamities  lay  over  the 
country,  that  I  felt  as  if  other  words  of  Lincoln 
would  follow,  and  I  collected  them  as  soon  as 
they  were  published. 

Some  of  these  utterances  of  Lincoln  are  so 
beautiful,  so  sublime,  so  full  of  faith  in  a  Divine 
Ruler  that  they  will  forever  remain  deeply  en 
graved  in  the  hearts  of  the  American  people  and 
in  American  history. 

C.  T.  W. 


WAS   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 
AN  INFIDEL? 

IT  is  not  the  purpose  at  this  time  to  depict  the 
character  of  Lincoln  in  all  its  details. 
Should  that  be  the  purpose,  no  more  apt 
words  could  be  found  than  those  which  Lincoln 
himself  spoke  on  Feb.  22,  1842,  at  a  celebration 
of  Washington's  Birthday :  "A  eulogy  on  George 
Washington  is  expected  of  me.  That  is  impos 
sible.  To  give  the  sun  more  light  or  the  name  of 
Washington  more  splendor  is  alike  impossible. 
No  one  should  attempt  it." 

These  words  exactly  fit  Abraham  Lincoln. 

As  at  the  death  of  men  of  renown,  the  religious 
or  non-religious  character  of  their  lives  is  dwelt 
upon  in  biographies  and  eulogies,  so,  also,  much 
has  been  written  since  Lincoln's  death  of  his 
position  toward  religion — much  that  was  true, 
much  absolutely  untrue.  As  an  example  of  the 
latter,  the  following  extract  from  a  communica 
tion  to  a  Chicago  morning  newspaper,*  pub 
lished  many  years  ago,  may  be  cited: 

"From  men  like  these    (Benjamin  Franklin, 

*  Chicago  Herald. 

11 


12         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

Thomas  Jefferson,  Abraham  Lincoln,  Thomas 
H.  Huxley,  John  Tyndall  and  Herbert  Spen 
cer)  the  spirit  of  infidelity  spreads  down  to  the 
lowest  strata  of  society." 

When  a  person  of  intelligence,  who  has  read 
something  of  Lincoln's  character,  sees  this,  he 
must  necessarily  form  the  conclusion  that  the 
writer  says  something  of  which  he  either  has  no 
knowledge  or  purposely  utters  a  falsehood.  The 
latter  is  the  more  probable.  Even  that  apostle 
of  infidelity,  Robert  Ingersoll,  was  frequently 
quoted  as  referring  to  Lincoln  as  an  infidel, 
and  Ingersoll  must  have  known  that  this  was 
wrong,  because  Lincoln's  religious  words  have 
been  reported  so  frequently  in  the  newspapers 
that  a  man  like  Ingersoll  must  have  read  them. 

We  recall  the  following  beautiful  words,  so 
eloquently  illustrating  the  religious  character  of 
Lincoln : 

"What  appears  to  me  to  be  the  will  of  God, 
that  shall  I  do." 

Had  no  other  religious  declaration  been 
brought  down  to  this  day  than  this  one,  it  would 
be  sufficient  to  place  Lincoln's  religious  charac 
ter  in  a  bright  light.  Whoever  studies  Lincoln's 
life  will  know  that  all  his  after  life  and  deeds 
were  indicative  of  an  ambition  to  bring  them  into 
harmony  with  this  declaration. 

It  is  a  fact  that  Lincoln  was  not  a  member  of 
any  church,  but  there  is  no  doubt,  had  not  death 


Lincoln  at  Thirty-Nine.     The  Earliest  Portrait 
of   Abraham   Lincoln 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        13 

claimed  him  so  suddenly,  that  he  would  have 
joined  a  church.  That  he  had  such  intentions,  is 
confirmed  by  various  persons.  During  his  ad 
ministration  he  regularly  attended  the  Presby 
terian  Church  of  Dr.  Gurney,  and  occasionally 
the  church  of  Dr.  Sutherland.  Dr.  Gurney  says: 

"Shortly  before  his  death,  Lincoln  told  me 
that  he  stood  ready  soon  to  affiliate  with  some 
church  by  confession  of  his  faith." 

In  Springfield  Lincoln  attended  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  under  Dr.  James  Smith. 

Why  Lincoln  should  have  been  claimed  by  the 
Atheists  as  one  of  their  faith  is  a  mystery  to  me. 
The  only  motive  for  such  an  assumption  can  be 
found  when,  in  his  early  youth,  1834,  he  wrote 
an  essay  on  Thomas  Payne's  "Age  of  Reason," 
and  Volney's  "Ruins  of  an  Empire,"  which  he 
was  to  read  before  a  literary  society.  At  first 
he  was  very  indignant  when  his  friend,  Sam 
Hill,  burned  the  manuscript;  but,  later  on, 
thanked  him  for  it.  John  G.  Nicolay,  his 
private  secretary,  has  this  to  say  on  the  subject: 

"Yes,  there  is  a  story,  and  it  is  probably  true, 
that,  when  he  was  very  young  and  very  igno 
rant,  he  wrote  an  essay  that  might  be  called 
atheistical.  It  was  after  he  had  been  reading  a 
couple  of  atheistic  books  which  made  a  great  im 
pression  upon  his  mind,  and  the  essay  is  sup 
posed  to  have  expressed  his  views  on  those  books, 
— a  sort  of  review  of  them,  containing  both  ap- 


14         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

proval  and  disapproval — and  one  of  his  friends 
burned  it.  He  was  very  indignant  at  the  time, 
but  was  afterwards  glad  of  it." 

But  Lincoln's  own  words  shall  give  us  a  cor 
rect  picture  of  his  inner  life,  so  that  the  reader 
can  form  his  own  opinion. 


JUDGE    GILLESPIE    AND    LINCOLN 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        17 

A  deep  impression  of  Lincoln's  inner  life,  at 
the  time  between  his  nomination  and  election,  has 
been  transmitted  to  posterity  by  Judge  Gilles- 
pie,  who,  one  night  at  the  beginning  of  January, 
stopped  at  Lincoln's  home  in  Springfield.  It 
was  late  before  Lincoln  had  completed  his  busi 
ness  and  the  two  friends  sat  down  by  the  fire 
for  a  chat. 

"I  attempted,"  says  Judge  Gillespie,  "to  draw 
him  into  conversation  relating  to  the  past,  hop 
ing  to  divert  him  from  the  thoughts  which  were 
evidently  distracting  him. 

'Yes,  yes,  I  remember,'  he  would  say  to  my 
references  to  old  scenes  and  associations,  but  the 
old-time  zest  was  not  only  lacking,  but  in  its 
place  was  a  gloom  and  despondency  entirely 
foreign  to  Lincoln's  character.  .  .  .  Sud 
denly  he  roused  himself.  'Gillespie,'  said  he,  'I 
would  willingly  take  out  of  my  life  a  period  in 
years  equal  to  the  two  months  which  intervene 
between  now  and  my  inauguration,  to  take  the 
oath  of  office  now.' 
'Why?' I  asked. 

'Because  every  hour  adds  to  the  difficul 
ties  I  am  called  upon  to  meet,  and  the  present 
administration  does  nothing  to  check  the  ten 
dency  toward  dissolution.  I,  who  have  been 
called  to  meet  this  awful  responsibility,  am 
compelled  to  remain  here,  doing  nothing  to  avert 
it  or  lessen  its  force  when  it  comes  to  me.' 


18         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

"Our  talk  then  turned  upon  the  possibility 
of  avoiding  a  war.  'It  is  only  possible,'  said  Mr. 
Lincoln,  'upon  the  consent  of  this  government  to 
the  creation  of  a  foreign  slave  government  out 
of  the  present  slave  states.  I  see  the  duty  de 
volving  upon  me.  I  have  read,  upon  my  knees, 
the  story  of  Gethsemane,  where  the  Son  of  God 
prayed  in  vain  that  the  cup  of  bitterness  might 
pass  from  Him.  I  am  in  the  garden  of  Geth 
semane  now,  and  my  cup  of  bitterness  is  full  and 
overflowing/ 

"I  then  told  him  that  as  Christ's  prayer  was 
not  answered  and  His  crucifixion  had  redeemed 
the  great  part  of  the  world  from  paganism  to 
Christianity,  so  the  sacrifice  demanded  of  him 
might  be  a  great  beneficence.  Little  did  I  then 
think  how  prophetic  were  my  words  to  be,  or 
what  a  great  sacrifice  he  was  called  to  make." 
(Ida  M.  Tarbell,  McClure's,  December,  1898.) 

These  words  of  Lincoln  we  can  only  under 
stand  if  we  look  back  upon  the  conditions  of 
our  country  at  that  period. 


The  Cooper  Institute  Portrait,  Taken  in  February,   1860 


THE    OUTLOOK   IN    1861 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        21 

"It  is  difficult  for  anybody,"  says  Noah 
Brooks,  "at  this  distance  of  time,  and  when  all 
things  are  at  peace  throughout  the  republic,  to 
realize  how  great  was  the  burden  placed  upon 
Lincoln  by  his  election  to  the  presidency.  There 
were  two  great  troubles — the  office-seekers  and 
the  impending  war.  The  first  of  these,  of  course, 
was  the  smaller,  but  it  was  none  the  less  a  griev 
ous  trial.  For,  in  addition  to  the  strain  that  it 
brought  upon  his  patience,  it  interfered  very 
seriously  with  his  attempt  to  think  over  the 
greater  and  far  more  trying  questions  that  must 
soon  be  settled." 

Ida  M.  Tarbell  said:  "Mr.  Lincoln  was  not 
only  obliged  to  sit  inactive  and  watch  this  steady 
dissolution  of  the  Union,  but  he  was  obliged  to 
see  what  was  still  harder — that  the  administra 
tion  which  he  was  to  succeed  was  doing  nothing 
to  check  the  destructionists.  Indeed,  all  through 
this  period,  proof  accumulated  that  members  of 
Mr.  Buchanan's  cabinet  had  been  systematically 
working  for  many  months  to  disarm  the  North 
and  equip  the  South.  The  quantity  of  arms  sent 
quietly  from  northern  arsenals  (to  the  South) 
was  so  great  that  the  citizens  of  the  towns  from 
which  they  went  became  alarmed. 
Letters  threatening  him  with  death,  sketches  of 
gibbets,  stilettos,  came  in  every  mail." 

Noah  Brooks  concludes  his  article  as  follows: 

"Lincoln,    at    Springfield,    lingering    in    his 


22         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

home  until  such  time  as  was  necessary  for  him 
to  depart  for  Washington,  beheld  all  these  revo 
lutionary  proceedings  with  profound  anxiety. 
He  was  powerless  to  lift  a  hand  against  the 
traitors  who  were  seeking  the  destruction  of  the 
Federal  Union,  for,  although  he  had  been  called 
to  be  President  of  the  United  States,  he  was  as 
yet  a  private  citizen.  And  while  the  loyal  people 
of  the  Republic  longed  and  prayed  for  a  strong 
man  at  the  helm  of  the  national  government,  and 
waited  for  the  fourth  of  March  to  come  and 
see  Abraham  Lincoln  in  the  chair  of  state,  he 
remained  passive,  counselling  patience  and 
moderation  to  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact, 
and  framing  in  his  mind  the  pleading,  expostu 
lating,  and  generous  inaugural  address  that  he 
subsequently  delivered.  Jefferson  Davis,  on  the 
other  hand,  gave  voice  to  the  hatred  and  vindic- 
tiveness  of  the  slavery  leaders,  when,  on  his  way 
from  his  home  to  be  inaugurated  in  Montgomery, 
he  said: 

'We  will  carry  the  war  where  it  is  easy 
to  advance,  where  food  for  the  sword  and  the 
torch  awaits  our  armies  in  the  densely-populated 
cities.'  On  the  one  side  were  forbearance,  mag 
nanimity,  and  Christian  patience.  On  the  other 
side  were  hatred,  vaporing,  and  threats  of  vio 
lence.  . 

"Already,  threats  of  assassination  had  been 
whispered  abroad,  and  it  had  been  boasted  by  the 


Lincoln  When  President-Elect 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        23 

enemies  of  the  Union  that  Lincoln  would  never 
reach  Washington  alive." 

Such  were  the  conditions  in  our  country  when 
Lincoln  left  Springfield  for  Washington.  Can 
it  astonish  us  if  his  heart  was  full  of  apprehen 
sion  and  evil  forebodings  for  the  future? 

GOD'S  WILL  SHALL  I  DO 

Speaking  of  the  slaves  to  a  member  of  his 
cabinet,  he  said  on  one  occasion: 

"I  have  not  yet  decided  as  to  the  proclama 
tion  of  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  but  the 
subject  has  my  constant  consideration.  I  can 
assure  you  that,  night  and  day,  there  is  nothing 
that  has  my  deeper  thought.  What  appears  to 
me  to  be  God's  will,  that  I  shall  do." 

SHOULD  BE  PRINTED  IN  GOLDEN  LETTERS 

Gov.  Bramlett  of  Kentucky,  Senator  Dickson 
and  Editor  A.  G.  Hodges  came  to  Lincoln  as 
bearers  of  a  protest  from  the  Southern  states 
against  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves.  Lincoln's 
answer  has  been  preserved  by  Hodges.  Toward 
the  end  the  President  says: 

"I  add  a  word  which  was  not  in  the  verbal  con 
versation.  In  telling  this  tale  I  attempt  no  com 
pliment  to  my  own  sagacity.  I  claim  not  to 
have  controlled  events,  but  confess  plainly  that 


24         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

events  have  controlled  me.  Now,  at  the  end 
of  three  years'  struggle,  the  nation's  condition  is 
not  what  either  party,  or  any  man,  devised  or 
expected.  God  alone  can  claim  it.  Whither  it 
is  tending  seems  plain.  //  God  now  wills  the 
removal  of  a  great  wrong.,  and  wills  also  that 
we  of  the  North,,  as  well  as  you  of  the  South, 
shall  pay  fairly  for  our  complicity  in  that  wrong, 
impartial  history  will  find  therein  new  cause  to 
attest  and  revere  the  justice  and  goodness  of 
God."  (The  Century,  July,  1891.) 

MEDITATION    ON    DIVINE   WILL, 
SEPTEMBER  7,   1862 

The  will  of  God  prevails.  In  great  contests 
each  party  claims  to  act  in  accordance  with  the 
will  of  God.  Both  may  be,  and  one  must  be, 
wrong.  God  cannot  be  for  and  against  the  same 
thing  at  the  same  time.  In  the  present  Civil 
War  it  is  quite  possible  that  God's  purpose  is 
something  different  from  the  purpose  of  either 
party;  and  yet  the  human  instrumentalities, 
working  just  as  they  do,  are  of  the  best  adapta 
tion  to  effect  His  purpose.  I  am  almost  ready  to 
say  that  this  is  probably  true;  that  God  wills 
this  contest,  and  wills  that  it  shall  not  end  yet. 
By  His  mere  great  power  on  the  minds  of  the 
now  contestants,  He  could  have  either  saved  or 
destroyed  the  Union  without  a  human  contest. 
Yet  the  contest  began.  And,  having  begun,  he 


CO 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        25 

could  give  the  final  victory  to  either  side  any  day. 
Yet  the  contest  proceeds.     (Nicolay  and  Hay.) 

IN    HIS    FAREWELL    ADDRESS    AT    SPRING 
FIELD,  FEBRUARY  n,  1861 

A  duty  devolves  upon  me  which  is  greater, 
perhaps,  than  that  which  has  devolved  upon  any 
other  man  since  the  days  of  Washington.  He 
never  would  have  succeeded  except  for  the  aid  of 
Divine  Providence,  upon  which  he  at  all  times 
relied.  I  feel  that  I  cannot  succeed  without  the 
same  Divine  aid  which  sustained  him,  and  on  the 
same  Almighty  Being  I  place  my  reliance  for 
support,  and  I  hope  you,  my  friends,  will  pray 
that  I  may  receive  that  Divine  assistance  without 
which  I  cannot  succeed,  but  with  which  success 
is  certain.  Again,  I  bid  you  all  an  affectionate 
farewell. 

CAPTAIN  MIX 

Captain  Mix  of  Lincoln's  body-guard  was  fre 
quently  invited  to  breakfast  with  the  family  at 
the  "Home"  residence.  "Many  times,"  said  he, 
"have  I  listened  to  our  most  eloquent  preachers, 
but  never  with  the  same  feeling  of  awe  and  rev 
erence  as  when  our  Christian  President,  his  arm 
around  his  son,  with  his  deep,  earnest  tone,  each 
morning,  read  a  chapter  from  the  Bible."  (Car 
penter,  261.) 


26         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

LET  THIS  CUP  PASS 

Lincoln  fought  bitter  fights  with  himself  be 
fore  he  surrendered  to  the  pressure  from  the  aboli 
tionists  to  emancipate  the  slaves  by  force  of  arms. 
He  considered  this  act  as  that  of  a  dictator.  He 
feared  it  would  be  an  abortive  effort  and  one 
damaging  to  the  loyal  citizens  of  the  South.  He 
told  a  friend  on  one  occasion  that  he  had  prayed 
to  the  Almighty  to  deliver  him  from  the  necessity 
of  such  a  step  and — using  the  identical  words  of 
Christ — to  let  the  cup  pass  if  it  was  at  all  pos 
sible.  On  the  morning  following  the  publica 
tion  of  the  proclamation,  he  declared:  "I  hope 
to  God  that  I  have  not  committed  an  error." 


LINCOLN  AND  NEWTON  BATEMAN 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        29 

Mr.  Newton  Bateman,  Superintendent  of 
Public  Instruction  for  the  State  of  Illinois,  oc 
cupied  a  room  adjoining  and  opening  into  the 
Executive  Chamber.  Frequently  this  door  was 
open  during  Mr.  Lincoln's  receptions;  and 
throughout  the  seven  months  or  more  of  his 
occupation  Mr.  Bateman  saw  him  nearly  every 
day.  Often  when  Mr.  Lincoln  was  tired  he 
closed  his  door  against  all  intrusion,  and  called 
Mr.  Bateman  into  his  room  for  a  quiet  talk.  On 
one  of  these  occasions  Mr.  Lincoln  took  up  a 
book  containing  a  careful  canvass  of  the  city 
of  Springfield,  in  which  he  lived,  showing  the 
candidate  for  whom  each  citizen  had  declared 
it  his  intention  to  vote  in  the  approaching  elec 
tion.  Mr.  Lincoln's  friends  had,  doubtless  at 
his  own  request,  placed  the  result  of  the  canvass 
in  his  hands.  This  was  toward  the  close  of  Oc 
tober,  and  only  a  few  days  before  the  election. 
Calling  Mr.  Bateman  to  a  seat  at  his  side,  hav 
ing  previously  locked  all  the  doors,  he  said: 

"Let  us  look  over  this  book.  I  wish  particu 
larly  to  see  how  the  ministers  of  Springfield  are 
going  to  vote." 

The  leaves  were  turned,  one  by  one,  and 
as  the  names  were  examined  Mr.  Lincoln  fre 
quently  asked  if  this  one  and  that  were  not  a 
minister,  or  an  elder,  or  the  member  of  such  or 
such  a  church,  and  sadly  expressed  his  surprise 
on  receiving  an  affirmative  answer.  In  that 


30         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

manner  they  went  through  the  book,  and  then  he 
closed  it  and  sat  silently  and  for  some  minutes 
regarded  a  memorandum  in  pencil  which  lay 
before  him.  At  length  he  turned  to  Mr.  Bate- 
man,  with  a  face  full  of  sadness,  and  said: 

"Here  are  twenty-three  ministers,  of  different 
denominations,  and  all  of  them  are  against  me  but 
three,  and  here  are  a  great  many  prominent  mem 
bers  of  the  churches,  a  very  large  majority  of 
whom  are  against  me.  Mr.  Bateman,  I  am  not  a 
Christian — God  knows  I  would  be  one — but  I 
have  carefully  read  the  Bible,  and  I  do  not  so  un 
derstand  this  book;"  and  he  drew  from  his  bosom 
a  pocket  New  Testament.  "These  men  well 
know,"  he  continued,  "that  I  am  for  freedom  in 
the  territories,  freedom  everywhere  as  far  as  the 
Constitution  and  laws  will  permit,  and  that  my 
opponents  are  for  slavery.  They  know  this,  and 
yet,  with  this  book  in  their  hands,  in  the  light 
of  which  human  bondage  cannot  live  a  moment, 
they  are  going  to  vote  against  me.  I  do  not 
understand  it  at  all." 

Here  Mr.  Lincoln  paused — paused  for  long 
minutes,  his  features  surcharged  with  emotion. 
Then  he  rose  and  walked  up  and  down  the  room 
in  the  effort  to  retain  or  regain  his  self-posses 
sion.  Stopping  at  last,  he  said,  with  a  trembling 
voice  and  his  cheeks  wet  with  tears: 

"I  know  there  is  a  God,  and  that  He  hates  in 
justice  and  slavery.  I  see  the  storm  coming,  and 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        31 

I  know  that  His  hand  is  in  it.  If  He  has  a  place 
and  work  for  me — and  I  think  He  has — I  believe 
I  am  ready.  I  am  nothing,  but  truth  is  every 
thing.  I  know  I  am  right  because  I  know  that 
liberty  is  right,  for  Christ  teaches  it,  and  Christ 
is  God.  I  have  told  them  that  a  house  divided 
against  itself  cannot  stand,  and  Christ  and  reason 
say  the  same;  and  they  will  find  it  so.  Douglas 
doesn't  care  whether  slavery  is  voted  up  or  down, 
but  God  cares,  and  humanity  cares,  and  I  care; 
and  with  God's  help  I  shall  not  fail.  I  may  not 
see  the  end;  but  it  will  come,  and  I  shall  be  vin 
dicated;  and  these  men  will  find  that  they  have 
not  read  their  Bibles  aright." 

Much  of  this  was  uttered  as  if  he  were  speak 
ing  to  himself,  and  with  a  sad  and  earnest  sol 
emnity  of  manner  impossible  to  be  described. 
After  a  pause,  he  resumed : 

"  Doesn't  it  appear  strange  that  men  can 
ignore  the  moral  aspects  of  this  contest?  A 
revelation  could  not  make  it  plainer  to  me  that 
slavery  or  the  government  must  be  destroyed. 
The  future  would  be  something  awful,  as  I 
look  at  it,  but  for  this  rock  on  which  I  stand" 
(alluding  to  the  Testament  which  he  still  held 
in  his  hand),  "especially  with  the  knowledge  of 
how  these  ministers  are  going  to  vote.  It  seems 
as  if  God  had  borne  with  this  thing  (slavery) 
until  the  very  teachers  of  religion  have  come  to 
defend  it  from  the  Bible,  and  to  claim  for  it  a 


32         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

divine  character  and  sanction;  and  now  the  cup 
of  iniquity  is  full,  and  the  vials  of  wrath  will  be 
poured  out." 

His  last  reference  was  to  certain  prominent 
clergymen  in  the  South,  Drs.  Ross  and  Palmer 
among  the  number;  and  he  went  on  to  comment 
on  the  atrociousness  and  essential  blasphemy  of 
their  attempts  to  defend  American  slavery  from 
the  Bible.  After  this  the  conversation  was  con 
tinued  for  a  long  time.  Everything  he  said  was 
of  a  peculiarly  deep,  tender  and  religious  tone, 
and  all  was  tinged  with  a  touching  melancholy. 
He  repeatedly  referred  to  his  conviction  that  the 
day  of  wrath  was  at  hand,  and  that  he  was  to  be 
an  actor  in  the  terrible  struggle  which  would 
issue  in  the  overthrow  of  slavery,  though  he 
might  not  live  to  see  the  end.  He  repeated  many 
passages  of  the  Bible,  and  seemed  specially  im 
pressed  with  the  solemn  grandeur  of  portions  of 
Revelations,  describing  the  wrath  of  Almighty 
God.  In  the  course  of  the  conversation  he  dwelt 
much  upon  the  necessity  of  faith  in  the  Chris 
tian's  God  as  an  element  of  successful  states 
manship,  especially  in  times  like  those  which 
were  upon  him,  and  said  that  it  gave  that  calm 
ness  and  tranquillity  of  mind,  that  assurance  of 
ultimate  success,  which  made  a  man  firm  and 
immovable  amid  the  wildest  excitements.  After 
further  reference  to  a  belief  in  Divine  Provi 
dence,  and  the  fact  of  God  in  history,  the  conver- 


Lincoln    in    His    Prime 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        33 

sation  turned  upon  prayer.  He  freely  stated  his 
belief  in  the  duty,  privilege  and  efficacy  of 
prayer,  and  intimated,  in  unmistakable  terms, 
that  he  had  sought  in  that  way  the  Divine  guid 
ance  and  favor. 

The  effect  of  this  conversation  upon  the  mind 
of  Mr.  Bateman,  a  Christian  gentleman  whom 
Mr.  Lincoln  profoundly  respected,  was  to  con 
vince  him  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had,  in  his  quiet 
way,  found  a  path  to  the  Christian  standpoint— 
that  he  had  found  God,  and  rested  on  the  eternal 
truth  of  God.  As  the  two  men  were  about  to 
separate,  Mr.  Bateman  remarked:  "I  have  not 
supposed  that  you  were  accustomed  to  think  so 
much  upon  this  class  of  subjects.  Certainly 
your  friends  generally  are  ignorant  of  the  sen 
timents  you  have  expressed  to  me."  He  replied 
quickly:  "I  know  they  are.  I  am  obliged  to 
appear  indifferent  to  them;  but  I  think  more 
on  these  subjects  than  upon  all  others,  and  I 
have  done  so  for  years,  and  I  am  willing  that  you 
should  know  it." 

This  remarkable  conversation  furnishes  a 
golden  link  in  the  chain  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  history. 
It  flashes  a  strong  light  upon  the  path  he  had 
already  trod,  and  illuminates  every  page  of  his 
subsequent  record.  Men  have  wondered  at  his 
abounding  charity,  his  love  of  mankind,  his  equa 
nimity  under  the  most  distressing  circumstances, 
his  patience  under  insult  and  misrepresentation, 


34         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

his  delicate  consideration  of  the  feelings  of  the 
humble,  his  apparent  incapacity  of  resentment, 
his  love  of  justice,  his  transparent  simplicity,  his 
truthfulness,  his  good  will  toward  his  enemies, 
his  beautiful  and  unshaken  faith  in  the  triumph 
of  the  right.  There  was  undoubtedly  something 
in  his  natural  constitution  that  favored  the  de 
velopment  of  these  qualities;  but  those  best  ac 
quainted  with  human  nature  will  hardly  attribute 
the  combination  of  excellencies  which  were  ex 
hibited  in  his  character  and  life  to  the  unaided 
forces  of  his  constitution.  The  man  who  carried 
what  he  called  "this  rock"  in  his  bosom,  who 
prayed,  who  thought  more  on  religious  subjects 
than  of  all  others,  who  had  an  undying  faith  in 
the  providence  of  God,  drew  his  life  from  the 
highest  fountains. 

It  was  one  of  the  peculiarities  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln  to  hide  these  religious  experiences  from  the 
eyes  of  the  world.  In  the  same  State  House 
where  this  conversation  occurred,  there  were  men 
who  imagined — who  really  believed — who  freely 
said — that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  probably  revealed 
himself  with  less  restraint  to  them  than  to  others : 
—men  who  thought  they  knew  him  as  they  knew 
their  bosom  companions — who  had  never  in  their 
whole  lives  heard  from  his  lips  one  word  of  all 
these  religious  convictions  and  experiences. 
They  did  not  regard  him  as  a  religious  man. 
They  had  never  seen  anything  but  the  active 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?         35 

lawyer,  the  keen  politician,  the  jovial,  fun-loving 
companion,  in  Mr.  Lincoln.  All  this  department 
of  his  life  he  had  kept  carefully  hidden  from 
them.  Why  he  should  say  that  he  was  obliged 
to  appear  differently  to  others  does  not  appear; 
but  the  fact  is  a  matter  of  history  that  he  never 
exposed  his  own  religious  life  to  those  who  had 
no  sympathy  with  it.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the 
clergymen  of  Springfield  knew  anything  of 
these  experiences.  Very  few  of  them  were  in 
political  sympathy  with  him;  and  it  is  evident 
that  he  could  open  his  heart  to  no  one  except 
under  the  most  favorable  circumstances.  The 
well-spring  from  which  gushed  up  so  grand  and 
guod  a  life  was  kept  carefully  covered  from  the 
eyes  of  the  world.  Its  possessor  looked  into  it 
often,  but  the  careless  or  curious  crowd  were 
never  favored  with  the  vision.  There  was  much 
in  his  conduct  that  was  simply  a  cover  to  these 
thoughts — an  attempt  to  conceal  them.  It  is 
more  than  probable  that,  on  separating  from  Mr. 
Bateman  on  this  occasion,  he  met  some  old  friend, 
and,  leaping  at  a  single  bound  from  his  tearful 
melancholy  and  his  sublime  religious  passion,  he 
told  him  some  story,  or  indulged  in  some  jest, 
that  filled  his  own  heart  with  mirthfulness,  and 
awoke  convulsions  of  laughter  in  him  who  heard 
it.  (Holland,  236.) 

Mr.  Carpenter,  referring  to  this  conversation 
with  Bateman,  said:  "I  myself  had  an  impression 


36         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

as  though  I  stood  before  one  of  the  ancient 
prophets  when  Lincoln  spoke  of  the  situation  and 
the  future  of  the  United  States/' 


From  the  Collection  of  Robert  Coster 


THE  DEATH  OF  WILLIE   LINCOLN 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        39 

Lincoln's  religious  character  apparently  was 
clarified  and  strengthened,  not  only  by  the  death 
of  his  son,  Willie,  but  particularly  by  reason  of 
the  grave  responsibilities  resting  upon  his  shoul 
ders  and  the  portentous  occurrences  that  played 
before  his  eyes  and  took  place  under  his  own 
direction.  Lincoln's  deep,  earnest,  religious 
awakening  apparently,  however,  dates  from  the 
death  of  his  son,  William  Wallace,  who  died, 
twelve  years  of  age,  February  20,  1862. 

Mr.  Carpenter  was  busy  in  the  White  House 
painting  the  historical  picture,  "The  Emancipa 
tion  Proclamation."  During  this  time  he  became 
most  intimately  acquainted  with  Lincoln.  In 
his  book,  "The  Inner  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln." 
he  says: 

"William  Wallace  Lincoln,  I  never  knew.  He 
died  Thursday,  February  20th,  1862,  nearly  two 
years  before  my  intercourse  with  the  President 
commenced.  He  had  just  entered  upon  his 
twelfth  year,  and  has  been  described  to  me  as  of 
an  unusually  serious  and  thoughtful  disposition. 
His  death  was  the  most  crushing  affliction  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  ever  been  called  upon  to  pass 
through. 

"After  the  funeral,  the  President  resumed  his 
official  duties,  but  mechanically,  and  with  a  ter 
rible  weight  at  his  heart.  The  following  Thurs 
day  he  gave  way  to  his  feelings,  and  shut  himself 
from  all  society.  The  second  Thursday  it  was 


40         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

the  same;  he  would  see  no  one,  and  seemed  a 
prey  to  the  deepest  melancholy.  About  this  time 
the  Rev.  Francis  Vinton,  of  Trinity  Church, 
New  York,  had  occasion  to  spend  a  few  days  in 
Washington.  As  an  acquaintance  of  Mrs.  Lin 
coln  and  her  sister,  Mrs.  Edwards,  of  Springfield, 
he  was  requested  by  them  to  come  up  and  see 
the  President.  The  setting  apart  of  Thursday 
for  the  indulgence  of  his  grief  had  gone  on  for 
several  weeks,  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  began  to  be 
seriously  alarmed  for  the  health  of  her  husband, 
of  which  Dr.  Vinton  was  apprised.  Mr.  Lincoln 
received  him  in  the  parlor,  and  an  opportunity 
was  soon  embraced  by  the  clergyman  to  chide  him 
for  showing  so  rebellious  a  disposition  to  the  de 
crees  of  Providence.  He  told  him  plainly  that 
the  indulgence  of  such  feelings,  though  natural, 
was  sinful.  It  was  unworthy  one  who  believed 
in  the  Christian  religion.  He  had  duties  to  the 
living,  greater  than  those  of  any  other  man,  as 
the  chosen  father  and  leader  of  the  people,  and 
he  was  unfitting  himself  for  his  responsibilities  by 
thus  giving  way  to  his  grief.  To  mourn  the 
departed  as  lost  is  a  relic  of  heathenism — not 
Christianity. 

"  'Your  son,'  said  Dr.  Vinton,  'is  alive,  in  Para 
dise.  Do  you  remember  that  passage  in  the  Gos 
pels:  "God  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead  but  of  the 
living,  for  all  live  unto  Him"?' 

"The  President  had  listened  as  one  in  a  stupor 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        41 

until  his  ear  caught  the  words,  'Your  son  is 
alive/  Starting  from  the  sofa,  he  exclaimed, 
*  Alive!  alive!  Surely  you  mock  me.' 

"  'No,  sir;  believe  me,'  replied  Dr.  Vinton;  'it 
is  a  most  comforting  doctrine  of  the  church, 
founded  upon  the  words  of  Christ  Himself.' 

"Mr.  Lincoln  looked  at  him  a  moment,  and 
then,  stepping  forward,  he  threw  his  arm  around 
the  clergyman's  neck,  and  laying  his  head  upon 
his  breast,  sobbed  aloud.  'Alive?  alive?'  he  re 
peated. 

"  'My  dear  sir,'  said  Dr.  Vinton,  greatly 
moved,  as  he  twined  his  own  arm  around  the 
weeping  father,  'believe  this,  for  it  is  God's  most 
precious  truth.  "Seek  not  your  son  among  the 
dead;  he  is  not  there;  he  lives  to-day  in  Paradise!" 
Think  of  the  full  import  of  the  words  I  have 
quoted.  The  Sadducees,  when  they  questioned 
Jesus,  had  no  other  conception  than  that  Abra 
ham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  were  dead  and  buried. 
Mark  the  reply:  Now  that  the  dead  are  raised, 
even  Moses  showed  at  the  bush  when  he  called  the 
Lord  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and 
the  God  of  Jacob.  For  He  is  not  the  God  of  the 
dead,  but  of  the  living,  for  all  live  unto  Him.  Did 
not  the  aged  patriarch  mourn  his  sons  as  dead? — 
"Joseph  is  not,  and  Simeon  is  not,  and  ye  will  take 
Benjamin  also."  But  Joseph  and  Simeon  were 
both  living,  though  he  believed  it  not.  Indeed, 
Joseph  being  taken  from  him,  was  the  eventual 


42         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

means  of  the  preservation  of  the  whole  family. 
And  so  God  has  called  your  son  into  His  upper 
kingdom — a  kingdom  and  an  existence  as  real, 
more  real,  than  your  own.  It  may  be  that  he, 
too,  like  Joseph,  has  gone,  in  God's  good  provi 
dence,  to  be  the  salvation  of  his  father's  house 
hold.  It  is  a  part  of  the  Lord's  plan  for  the 
ultimate  happiness  of  you  and  yours.  Doubt  it 
not.  I  have  a  sermon,'  continued  Dr.  Vinton, 
'upon  this  subject  which  I  think  might  interest 
you.' 

"Mr.  Lincoln  begged  him  to  send  it  at  an 
early  day — thanking  him  repeatedly  for  his  cheer 
ing  and  hopeful  words.  The  sermon  was  sent, 
and  read  over  and  over  by  the  President,  who 
caused  a  copy  to  be  made  for  his  own  private 
use  before  it  was  returned.  Through  a  member 
of  the  family,  I  have  been  informed  that  Mr. 
Lincoln's  views  in  relation  to  spiritual  things 
seemed  changed  from  that  hour.  Certain  it  is, 
that  thenceforth  he  ceased  the  observance  of  the 
day  of  the  week  upon  which  his  son  died,  and 
gradually  resumed  his  accustomed  cheerfulness." 
On  this  subject  Holland  says,  p.  434: 
"In  February,  1862,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  visited 
by  severe  affliction  in  the  death  of  his  beautiful 
son,  Willie,  and  the  extreme  sickness  of  Thomas, 
familiarly  called  'Tad.'  This  was  a  new  bur 
den;  and  the  visitation  which,  in  his  firm  faith 
in  Providence,  he  regarded  as  providential,  was 


Lincoln   and  Tad 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        43 

also  inexplicable.  Why  should  he,  with  so  many 
burdens  upon  him,  and  with  such  necessity  for 
solace  in  his  home  and  his  affections,  be  brought 
into  so  tender  a  trial?  It  was  to  him  a  trial  of 
faith,  indeed.  A  Christian  lady  of  Massachu 
setts,  who  was  officiating  as  nurse  in  one  of  the 
hospitals,  came  in  to  attend  the  sick  children. 
She  reports  that  Mr.  Lincoln  watched  with  her 
about  the  bedside  of  the  sick  ones,  and  that  he 
often  walked  the  room,  saying  sadly: 

1  This  is  the  hardest  trial  of  my  life;  why  is 
it ?    Why  is  it?' 

"In  the  course  of  conversations  with  her,  he 
questioned  her  concerning  her  situation.  She 
told  him  she  was  a  widow,  and  that  her  husband 
and  two  children  were  in  Heaven ;  and  added  that 
she  saw  the  hand  of  God  in  it  all,  and  that  she  had 
never  loved  Him  so  much  before  as  she  had  since 
her  affliction. 

*  'How  is  that  brought  about?'  inquired  Mr. 
Lincoln. 

'  'Simply  by  trusting  in  God,  and  feeling  that 
He  does  all  things  well,'  she  replied. 

'  'Did  you  submit  fully  under  the  first  loss?' 
he  asked. 

"  'No,'  she  answered,  'not  wholly;  but,  as  blow 
came  upon  blow,  and  all  were  taken,  I  could  and 
did  submit,  and  was  very  happy.' 

"He  responded:  'I  am  glad  to  hear  you  say 
that.  Your  experience  will  help  me  to  bear  my 
afflictions.' 


44         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

"On  being  assured  that  many  Christians  were 
praying  for  him  on  the  morning  of  the  funeral, 
he  wiped  away  the  tears  that  sprang  in  his  eyes, 
and  said:  'I  am  glad  to  hear  that.  I  want  them 
to  pray  for  me.  I  need  their  prayers.'  As  he 
was  going  out  to  the  burial,  the  good  lady  ex 
pressed  her  sympathy  with  him.  He  thanked 
her  gently,  and  said:  'I  will  try  to  go  to  God  with 
my  sorrows.'  A  few  days  afterwards,  she  asked 
him  if  he  could  trust  God.  He  replied:  'I  think 
I  can,  and  I  will  try.  I  wish  I  had  that  child 
like  faith  you  speak  of,  and  I  trust  He  will  give 
it  to  me.'  And  then  he  spoke  of  his  mother, 
whom  so  many  years  before  he  had  committed  to 
the  dust  among  the  wilds  of  Indiana.  In  this 
hour  of  his  great  trial,  the  memory  of  her  who 
had  held  him  upon  her  bosom,  and  soothed  his 
childish  griefs,  came  back  to  him  with  tenderest 
recollections. 

'  'I  remember  her  prayers,'  said  he,  'and  they 
have  always  followed  me.  They  have  clung  to  me 
all  my  life.' 

"This  lady  was  with  the  President  on  sub 
sequent  occasions.  After  the  second  defeat  at 
Bull  Run,  he  appeared  very  much  distressed 
about  the  number  of  killed  and  wounded,  and 
said: 

"  'I  have  done  the  best  I  could.  I  have  asked 
God  to  guide  me,  and  now  I  must  leave  the  event 
with  Him.'  On  another  occasion,  having  been 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        45 

made  acquainted  with  the  fact  that  a  great  battle 
was  in  progress,  at  a  distant  but  important  point, 
he  came  into  the  room,  where  the  lady  was  en 
gaged  in  nursing  a  member  of  the  family,  looking 
worn  and  haggard,  and  saying  that  he  was  so 
anxious  that  he  could  eat  nothing.  The  possi 
bility  of  defeat  depressed  him  greatly;  but  the 
lady  told  him  he  must  trust,  and  he  could  at  least 
pray. 

'Yes,'  said  he,  and  taking  up  a  Bible,  he 
started  for  his  room.  Could  all  the  people  of  the 
nation  have  overheard  the  earnest  petition  that 
went  up  from  that  inner  chamber,  as  it  reached 
the  ears  of  the  nurse,  they  would  have  fallen 
upon  their  knees  with  tearful  and  reverential 
sympathy.  At  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  a 
telegram  reached  him  announcing  a  Union  vic 
tory;  and  then  he  came  directly  to  the  room,  his 
face  beaming  with  joy,  saying: 

"  'Good  news!  Good  news!  The  victory  is 
ours,  and  God  is  good.' 

'  'Nothing  like  prayer,'  suggested  the  pious 
lady,  who  traced  a  direct  connection  between  the 
event  and  the  prayer  which  preceded  it. 

'Yes  there  is,'  he  replied,—  'praise: — prayer 
and  praise.' 

"The  good  lady  who  communicates  these  in 
cidents  closes  them  with  the  words:  'I  do  believe 
he  was  a  true  Christian,  though  he  had  very  little 
confidence  in  himself.'  " 


LINCOLN  AND   GENERAL   SICKLES 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        49 

James  F.  Rusling  relates  in  the  New  York 
Tribune  the  following  impressive  utterance, 
which  was  made  in  his  hearing  during  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  visit  to  General  Sickles,  who  had  been 
wounded  at  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  a  day  or 
two  before.  It  was  Sunday  morning,  July  5, 
1863.  Mr.  Lincoln  greeted  Sickles  right  cor 
dially  and  tenderly,  though  cheerfully,  and  it  was 
easy  to  see  that  they  held  each  other  in  high 
esteem.  Greetings  over,  Mr.  Lincoln  dropped 
into  a  chair  and,  crossing  his  prodigious  legs,  soon 
fell  to  questioning  Sickles  as  to  all  the  phases  of 
the  combat  at  Gettysburg.  When  Mr.  Lincoln's 
inquiries  ended,  General  Sickles  resumed  the  con 
versation  substantially  as  follows: 

"Well,  Mr.  President,  I  beg  pardon,  but  what 
do  you  think  about  Gettysburg?  What  was  your 
opinion  of  things  while  we  were  campaigning  and 
fighting  up  there  in  Pennsylvania?" 

"Oh,"  replied  Mr.  Lincoln,  "I  didn't  think 
much  about  it.  I  was  not  much  concerned  about 
you!" 

"You  were  not?"  rejoined  Mr.  Sickles,  amazed. 
"Why,  we  heard  that  you  Washington  folks 
were  a  good  deal  excited,  and  you  certainly  had 
good  cause  to  be,  for  it  was  'nip  and  tuck'  with 
us  up  there  a  good  deal  of  the  time!" 

"Yes,  I  know  that,  and  I  suppose  some  of  us 
were  a  little  'rattled.'  Indeed,  some  of  the 
Cabinet  talked  of  Washington's  being  captured, 


50         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

and  ordered  a  gunboat  or  two  here,  and  even 
went  so  far  as  to  send  some  Government  archives 
aboard,  and  wanted  me  to  go,  too,  but  I  refused. 
Stanton  and  Welles,  I  believe,  were  both  'stam 
peded'  somewhat,  and  Seward,  I  reckon,  too.  But 
I  said,  'No,  gentlemen,  we  are  all  right,  and  are 
going  to  win  at  Gettysburg;'  and  we  did,  right 
handsomely.  No,  General  Sickles,  I  had  no 
fears  of  Gettysburg." 

"Why  not,  Mr.  President?  How  was  that? 
Pretty  much  everybody  down  here,  we  heard, 
was  more  or  less  panicky." 

"Yes,  I  expect  so,  and  a  good  many  more  than 
will  own  up  now.  But  actually,  General  Sickles, 
I  had  no  fears  of  Gettysburg,  and  if  you  really 
want  to  know  I  will  tell  you  why.  Of  course, 
I  don't  want  you  and  Colonel  Rusling  to  say 
anything  about  this — at  least,  not  now.  People 
might  laugh  if  it  got  out,  you  know.  But  the 
fact  is,  in  the  stress  and  pitch  of  the  campaign 
there,  I  went  to  my  room,  and  got  down  on  my 
knees  and  prayed  Almighty  God  for  victory  at 
Gettysburg.  I  told  Him  that  this  was  His 
country,  and  the  war  was  His  war,  but  that  we 
really  couldn't  stand  another  Fredericksburg  or 
Chancellorsville.  And  then  and  there  I  made  a 
solemn  vow  with  my  Maker  that  if  He  would 
stand  by  you  boys  at  Gettysburg,  I  would  stand 
by  Him.  And  He  did;  and  I  will!  And,  after 
this,  I  don't  know  how  it  was,  and  it  is  not  for  me 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        51 

to  explain,  but  somehow  or  other  a  sweet  comfort 
crept  into  my  soul  that  God  Almighty  had  taken 
the  whole  thing  into  His  own  hands,  and  we  were 
bound  to  win  at  Gettysburg!  No,  General 
Sickles,  I  had  no  fears  of  Gettysburg;  and  that 
is  the  reason  why!" 

Mr.  Lincoln  said  all  this  with  great  solem 
nity  and  impressiveness,  almost  as  Moses  might 
have  spoken  when  he  first  came  down  from  Sinai ; 
and  when  he  had  concluded,  there  was  a  pause  in 
the  talk  that  nobody  seemed  disposed  to  break. 
All  were  busy  with  their  thoughts,  and  the  Presi 
dent  especially  appeared  to  be  communing  with 
the  Infinite  One  again.  The  first  to  speak  was 
General  Sickles,  who  presently  resumed  as  fol 
lows  : 

"Well,  Mr.  President,  what  are  you  thinking 
about  Vicksburg,  nowadays?" 

"Oh,"  answered  Mr.  Lincoln,  very  gravely. 
"I  don't  quite  know.  Grant  is  still  pegging  away 
down  there,  and  making  some  headway,  I  believe. 
As  we  used  to  say  out  in  Illinois,  I  think  'he  will 
make  a  spoon  or  spoil  a  horn'  before  he  gets 
through." 

"So,  then,  you  have  no  fears  about  Vicksburg, 
either,!  Mr.  President?"  asked  General  Sickles. 

"Well,  no;  I  can't  say  that  I  have,"  replied  Mr. 
Lincoln,  very  soberly.  "The  fact  is — but  don't 
say  anything  about  this  either  just  now — I  have 


52         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

been  praying  to  Almighty  God  for  Vicksburg, 
also."  Of  course  Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  then  know 
that  Vicksburg  had  already  fallen  on  July  4th. 


THE  LADY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 
COMMISSION 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        55 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Willets,  of  Brooklyn,  gave 
Carpenter  an  account  of  a  conversation  with  Mr. 
Lincoln  on  the  part  of  a  lady  of  his  acquaint 
ance,  connected  with  the  "Christian  Commis 
sion,"  who  in  the  prosecution  of  her  duties  had 
several  interviews  with  him.  The  President,  it 
seemed,  had  been  much  impressed  with  the  devo 
tion  and  earnestness  of  purpose  manifested  by 
the  lady,  and  on  one  occasion,  after  she  had  dis 
charged  the  object  of  her  visit,  he  said  to  her: 

"Mrs.  -  — ,  I  have  formed  a  high  opinion  of 
your  Christian  character,  and  now,  as  we  are 
alone,  I  have  a  mind  to  ask  you  to  give  me,  in 
brief,  your  idea  of  what  constitutes  a  true  re 
ligious  experience." 

The  lady  replied  at  some  length,  stating 
that,  in  her  judgment,  it  consisted  of  a  con 
viction  of  one's  own  sinfulness  and  weakness, 
and  personal  need  of  a  Savior  for  strength 
and  support;  that  views  of  mere  doctrine 
might  and  would  differ,  but  when  one  was 
really  brought  to  feel  his  need  of  Divine  help, 
and  to  seek  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit  for 
strength  and  guidance,  it  was  satisfactory  evi 
dence  of  his  having  been  born  again.  This  was 
the  substance  of  her  reply.  When  she  had  con 
cluded,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  very  thoughtful  for  a 
few  moments.  At  length  he  said,  very  earnestly: 

"If  what  you  have  told  me  is  really  a  correct 
view  of  this  great  subject,  I  think  I  can  say  with 


56         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

sincerity,  that  I  hope  I  am  a  Christian.  I  had 
lived,"  he  continued,  "until  my  boy,  Willie,  died, 
without  realizing  fully  these  things.  That  blow 
overwhelmed  me.  It  showed  me  my  weakness 
as  I  had  never  felt  it  before,  and  if  I  can  take 
what  you  have  stated  as  a  test,  I  think  I  can 
safely  say  that  I  know  something  of  the  change 
of  which  you  speak;  and  I  will  further  add,  that 
it  has  been  my  intention  for  some  time,  at  a 
suitable  opportunity,  to  make  a  public  confession 
of  my  faith." 

This  latter  remark  means,  as  is  well  known,  the 
joining  of  a  church. 


Lincoln  in  1860 


LINCOLN  AND   THE  OLD 
QUAKERESS 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        59 

At  a  dinner  party  in  Washington,  composed 
mainly  of  opponents  of  the  war  and  the  adminis 
tration,  Mr.  Lincoln's  course  and  policy  were,  as 
usual  with  this  class,  the  subjects  of  vehement 
denunciation.  This  had  gone  on  for  some  time, 
when  one  of  the  company,  who  had  taken  no 
part  in  the  discussion,  asked  the  privilege  of 
saying  a  few  words. 

"Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "y°u  may  talk  as  you 
please  about  Mr.  Lincoln's  capacity;  I  don't  be 
lieve  him  to  be  the  ablest  statesman  in  America, 
by  any  means,  and  I  voted  against  him  on  both 
occasions  of  his  candidacy.  But  I  happened  to 
see,  or,  rather,  to  hear  something,  the  other  day, 
that  convinced  me  that,  however  deficient  he  may 
be  in  the  head,  he  is  all  right  in  the  heart.  I 
was  up  at  the  White  House,  having  called  to 
see  the  President  on  business.  I  was  shown  into 
the  office  of  his  private  secretary,  and  told  that 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  busy  just  then,  but  would  be 
disengaged  in  a  short  time.  While  waiting,  I 
heard  a  very  earnest  prayer  being  uttered  in  a 
loud,  female  voice  in  the  adjoining  room.  I  in 
quired  what  it  meant,  and  was  told  that  an  old 
Quaker  lady,  a  friend  of  the  President's,  had 
called  that  afternoon  and  taken  tea  at  the  White 
House,  and  that  she  was  then  praying  with  Mr. 
Lincoln.  After  the  lapse  of  a  few  minutes  the 
prayer  ceased,  and  the  President,  accompanied 
by  a  Quakeress  not  less  than  eighty  years  old, 


60         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

entered  the  room  where  I  was  sitting.  I  made 
up  my  mind  then,  gentlemen,  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  not  a  bad  man;  and  I  don't  think  it  will  be 
easy  to  efface  the  impression  that  the  scene  I 
witnessed  and  the  voice  I  heard  made  on  my 
mind." 

COLONEL  LOOMIS 

An  illustration  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  interest  in  the 
efforts  of  religious  men  is  found  in  his  treatment 
of  a  case  brought  before  him  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Duryea.  Colonel  Loomis,  commandant  at  Fort 
Columbus,  on  Governor's  Island,  was  to  be  re 
tired  because  he  had  passed  the  legal  limit  of 
age  for  active  service.  His  religious  influence 
was  so  powerful  that  the  Chaplain  of  the  post 
appealed  to  Mr.  Duryea  to  use  his  influence  for 
the  good  officer's  retention  in  the  service.  Ac 
cordingly,  appeal  was  made  to  the  President  for 
that  object,  purely  on  religious  grounds. 

"What  does  Mr.  Duryea  know  of  military 
matters?"  inquired  Mr.  Lincoln,  with  a  smile,  of 
the  bearer  of  the  petition. 

"Nothing,"  replied  the  gentleman;  "and  he 
makes  no  request  on  military  considerations. 
The  record  of  Colonel  Loomis  for  fifty  years, 
in  the  War  Department,  will  furnish  these. 
He  asks  simply  to  retain  the  influence  of  a  man 
whose  Christian  character  is  pure  and  consistent, 
who  sustains  religious  exercises  at  the  fort,  leads 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        61 

a  weekly  prayer-meeting,  and  teaches  a  Bible 
class  in  the  Sabbath  School." 

Mr.  Lincoln  replied:  "That  is  his  highest  pos 
sible  recommendation.  Take  this  petition  to  the 
Secretary  of  War,  with  my  approval."  The 
result  was  the  retention  of  Colonel  Loomis  at  his 
post,  until  his  services  were  needed  in  important 
court-martial  business. 


LINCOLN  AND  G.  H.  STUART 

Only  a  few  months  before  Mr.  Lincoln  died,  he 
was  waited  upon  at  the  White  House  by  about 

two  hundred  members  of  the Commission, 

who  had  been  holding  their  annual  meeting.  The 
chairman  of  the  commission,  George  H.  Stuart, 
addressed  a  few  words  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  speaking 
of  the  debt  which  the  country  owed  him. 

"My  friends,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln  in  reply,  "you 
owe  me  no  gratitude  for  what  I  have  done:  and 
I — "  and  here  he  hesitated,  and  the  long  arm 
came  through  the  air  awkwardly,  as  if  he  might  be 
misunderstood  in  what  he  was  going  to  say — "and 
I,  I  may  say,  owe  you  no  gratitude  for  what 
you  have  done;  just  as,  in  a  sense,  we  owe  no 
gratitude  to  the  men  who  have  fought  our 
battles  for  us.  I  trust  that  this  has  been 
for  us  a  work  of  duty:"  and  at  the  mention  of 
that  word,  the  homely,  sad  face  was  irradiated 
with  the  light  of  a  divine  emotion. 


62         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

Looking  around  for  encouragement  into  the 
faces  of  the  eager  group,  he  then  proceeded  in  the 
simplest  words  to  say  that  all  gratitude  was  due  to 
the  Great  Giver  of  all  good.  At  the  close  of  his 
remarks,  Mr.  Stuart,  who  cared  as  little  for  pre 
cedent  as  Mr.  Lincoln  himself,  asked  him  if  he 
had  any  objection,  then  and  there,  to  a  word  of 
prayer.  Quietly,  but  very  cordially,  as  if  he 
were  grateful  for  the  suggestion,  he  assented ;  and 
Bishop  Janes  offered  in  the  East  Room  a  brief 
and  fervent  petition.  It  was  a  memorable  scene, 
which  must  always  be  reverted  to  with  interest 
by  every  Christian  patriot. 

BEFORE  LINCOLN'S  INAUGURATION 

Here  are  a  few  of  Lincoln's  words  which  date 
before  his  inauguration.  As  far  back  as  twenty- 
one  years  before  his  administration,  Lincoln  was 
a  bitter  foe  of  slavery,  though  he  recognized  the 
constitutional  right  of  the  slave-holders.  At  that 
time  he  said : 

"If  at  any  time  I  felt  my  soul  lifted  up  into 
a  wider  horizon  to  sentiments  not  entirely  un 
worthy  its  Almighty  Maker,  it  is  when  surveying 
my  country's  situation,  abandoned  by  all  the 
world,  I,  standing  alone,  fearless,  have  thrown 
down  the  gauntlet  to  the  victorious  oppressors." 

In  a  letter  dated  at  Springfield  January  12, 


Lincoln  in   His  Circuit  Riding  Days 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        63 

1851,  during  a  severe  illness  of  his  father,  he 
writes : 

"I  earnestly  hope  that  father  will  recover,  but, 
above  all  things,  tell  him  to  confide  in  our  benevo 
lent  and  kind  Creator,  who  will  not  forsake  him 
in  any  tribulation.  He  will  not  forsake  the  dying 
who  put  their  trust  in  Him.  Tell  him  that  if  it 
is  decreed  that  he  shall  leave  us,  he  will  have  a 
glorious  reunion  with  the  loved  ones  gone  be 
fore,  and  where  we  others,  left  behind,  hope  soon 
to  be  reunited  with  him." 


TRUE  RELIGION  IN  POLITICS 

In  the  Legislature,  where  discreditable  means 
were  employed  to  pass  a  bill:  "You  may  burn 
my  body  to  ashes  and  scatter  them  to  the  four 
winds  of  Heaven;  you  may  drag  my  soul  down 
to  the  regions  of  darkness  and  despair,  to  be 
tormented  forever;  but  you  will  not  get  me  to 
support  a  measure  which  I  believe  to  be  wrong" 

"Nearly  eighty  years  ago  we  declared  that  all 
men  are  created  equal,"  he  said  in  1854,  "but 
now  we  declare  that  for  certain  men  it  is  a  divine 
right  of  self-government  to  make  slaves  of  other 
men.  These  principles  cannot  exist  together. 
They  oppose  each  other  like  God  and  Mammon." 

In  the  debate  with  Douglas  at  Charleston: 
"I  do  not  want  to  be  understood  as  believing 


64         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

that  it  (the  agitation  for  the  abolition  of  slavery) 
will  be  ended  in  a  day,  a  year,  or  in  two  years. 
I  do  not  believe  that  the  abolition  of  slavery  can 
be  brought  about  peaceably  in  a  hundred  years, 
but  that  it  will  be  accomplished  in  God's  own 
good  time  in  the  best  way  for  both  races,  of  that 
I  have  not  the  least  doubt." 


DRINKS  ADAM'S  ALE  FROM  WELL 

Lincoln,  as  is  well  known,  never  drank  alco 
holic  liquors,  although  he  was  no  fanatic  on  this 
question.  When  the  committee,  which  notified 
him  of  his  candidacy  for  the  presidency,  were 
seated,  Lincoln  ordered  the  servant  girl  to  bring 
some  refreshments.  A  jug  of  water  and  glasses 
were  placed  upon  the  table,  Lincoln  saying: 

"Gentlemen,  let  us  drink  to  our  mutual  good 
health  in  this  most  wholesome  drink  which  God 
has  given  us.  It  is  the  only  drink  which  I  permit 
in  my  family  and  in  all  conscience  let  me  not  de 
part  from  this  custom  on  this  occasion.  It  is 
the  purest  Adam's  ale,  fresh  from  the  well." 

AT  ALBANY,  NEW  YORK 

In  a  speech  at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  he  said : 
"I  still  have    confidence    that    the    Almighty 
Ruler  of  the  universe,  through  the  instrumen 
tality  of  this  great  and  intelligent  people,  can 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        65 

and  will  bring  us  through  this  difficulty  as  He 
has  heretofore  brought  us  through  all  preceding 
difficulties  of  the  country.  Relying  upon  this, 
and  again  thanking  you,  as  I  forever  shall,  in 
my  heart,  for  this  generous  reception  you  have 
given  me,  I  bid  you  farewell." 


AT  TRENTON,  NEW  JERSEY 

"I  am  exceedingly  anxious  that  this  Union, 
the  Constitution,  and  the  liberties  of  the  people, 
shall  be  perpetuated  in  accordance  with  the  origi 
nal  idea  for  which  that  struggle  was  made,  and  I 
shall  be  most  happy  indeed  if  I  shall  be  an  hum 
ble  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  Almighty,  and 
of  this,  His  almost  chosen  people,  for  perpetu 
ating  the  object  of  that  great  struggle." 

TO    THE   LEGISLATURE   OF   OHIO,   COLUM 
BUS,  FEBRUARY  13,  1861 

"Very  great  responsibility  rests  upon  me  in 
the  position  to  which  the  votes  of  the  American 
people  have  called  me.  I  am  deeply  sensible 
of  that  weighty  responsibility.  I  cannot  but 
know  what  you  all  know,  that  without  a  name, 
perhaps  without  a  reason  why  I  should  have  a 
name,  there  has  fallen  upon  me  a  task  such  as 
did  not  rest  even  upon  the  Father  of  his  Country ; 
and  so  feeling,  I  can  turn  and  look  for  that  sup- 


66         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

port  without  which  it  will  be  impossible  for  me 
to  perform  that  great  task.  I  turn,  then,  and 
look  to  the  American  people,  and  to  that  God 
who  has  never  forsaken  them." 


IN   PHILADELPHIA,  FEBRUARY  22,  1861 

"My  friends,  this  is  wholly  an  unprepared 
speech.  I  did  not  expect  to  be  called  on  to  say 
a  word  when  I  came  here.  I  supposed  I  was 
merely  to  do  something  toward  raising  a  flag. 
I  may,  therefore,  have  said  something  indiscreet." 
(Cries  of  "No,  no.")  "But  I  have  said  nothing 
but  what  I  am  willing  to  live  by,  and,  if  it  be 
the  pleasure  of  Almighty  God,  to  die  by." 


TO  MRS.  BIXBY 

For  many  days  after  the  result  of  his  second 
election  was  known,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  burdened 
with  congratulations;  and  yet,  amid  these  dis 
turbances,  and  the  cares  of  office,  which  were 
onerous  in  the  extreme,  he  found  time  to  write  the 
following  letter: 

"Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Nov.  21, 1864. 

"Dear  Madam: — I  have  been  shown,  in  the 
files  of  the  War  Department,  a  statement  by  the 
Ad  jut  ant- General  of  Massachusetts,  that  you  are 


Lincoln  in  1860 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        67 

the  mother  of  five  sons  who  have  died  gloriously 
on  the  field  of  battle.  I  feel  how  weak  and  fruit 
less  must  be  any  words  of  mine  which  should  at 
tempt  to  beguile  you  from  the  grief  of  a  loss  so 
overwhelming.  But  I  cannot  refrain  from  ten 
dering  to  you  the  consolation  that  may  be  found 
in  the  thanks  of  the  republic  they  died  to  save.  I 
pray  that  our  Heavenly  Father  may  assuage  the 
anguish  of  your  bereavement,  and  leave  you  only 
the  cherished  memory  of  the  loved  and  lost,  and 
the  solemn  pride  that  must  be  yours  to  have  laid 
so  costly  a  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  freedom." 
The  Hon.  James  Bryce,  English  Ambassador 
to  Washington,  said  of  this  letter:  "It  deals  with 
a  theme  on  which  hundreds  of  letters  are  written 
daily.  But  I  do  not  know  where  the  nobility  of 
self-sacrifice  for  a  great  cause,  and  of  the  con 
solation  which  the  thought  of  a  sacrifice  so  made 
should  bring,  is  set  forth  with  such  simple  and 
pathetic  beauty." 

CHRISTIAN  SABBATH 

Requested  to  preside  over  a  meeting  of  the 
Christian  Commission  Feb.  22,  1863,  in  Wash 
ington,  Lincoln  said: 

"That  Washington's  birthday  and  the  Chris 
tian  Sunday  fall  this  time  on  the  same  day,  in 
dicating  the  highest  interests  of  this  life  and  that 
beyond,  is  most  significant  for  the  proposed  meet 
ing." 


68         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

LINCOLN  AND  DR.  SUNDERLAND 
Byron  Sunderland,  Chaplain  of  the  Senate, 
and  others  were  afraid  that  Lincoln  would  not 
issue  his  emancipation  proclamation.  On  the 
Sunday  before  January  1,  1863,  Dr.  Sunderland 
preached  on  this  subject,  and  F.  S.  Robbins,  a 
friend  of  Lincoln,  requested  him  to  go  to  Lincoln 
and  try  to  persuade  him  to  issue  the  proclama 
tion.  In  this  conversation,  Lincoln  said: 

"Were  it  left  to  me  and  you,  doctor,  there 
would  have  been  no  war;  yes,  there  would  not 
have  been  any  cause  for  war.  But  it  was  not  left 
to  us.  God  permitted  men  to  make  slaves  of  their 
fellowmen.  He  also  permitted  this  war.  He 
has  staged  a  peculiar  drama  before  His  eye.  We 
on  our  side  appeal  to  Him  for  victory,  because 
we  believe  we  are  right,  but  those  on  the  other 
side  likewise  appeal  to  Him  for  victory,  because 
they  believe  they  are  right.  What  must  He  think 
of  us  ?  And  what  will  be  the  result  ?" 

"And  then,"  continues  Sunderland,  "Lincoln 
discussed  the  situation  with  us  in  such  clear,  con 
vincing  language  as  to  strengthen  and  convince 
me  so  that  since  that  hour  I  have  placed  fullest 
confidence  in  him.  His  words  appealed  to  me 
like  those  of  one  of  the  old  Prophets." 

MRS.  LINCOLN 

Mrs.  Lincoln  said:  "One  day,  after  breakfast, 
soon  after  he  had  finished  his  first  inaugural  ad- 


A  Rare  Photograph  of  Airs.  Lincoln 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        89 

dress,  he  ordered  the  whole  family  out  of  the 
room.  I  was  in  the  adjoining  room  and  saw  how 
he  knelt  down,  and  then  I  heard  him  pray  to  God 
for  strength  and  wisdom  in  the  fulfillment  of  his 
duties." 

BISHOP  SIMPSON 

"One  day,  during  the  darkest  hours  of  the  war," 
said  Bishop  Simpson  to  Chaplain  C.  E.  McCabe, 
"I  went  to  Lincoln.  We  had  a  long  talk  about 
the  situation.  When  I  was  ready  to  go,  Lincoln 
locked  the  door,  and  said:  'Bishop,  I  feel  the 
need  of  prayer  more  than  ever  before ;  please,  do 
pray  for  me.'  And  we  knelt  down  in  an  earnest 
prayer,  and  the  President  responded  from  the 
bottom  of  his  heart." 

GENERAL  O.  O.  HOWARD 
General  O.  O.  Howard  said  at  the  consecration 
of  Chickamauga  Park: 

"It  is  said  that  Lincoln,  during  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg,  was  in  a  worse  state  of  excitement 
and  mental  anguish  than  if  he  had  been  present 
personally  in  the  battle,  and  that  this  brought 
on  a  spiritual  change  in  his  soul,  which,  later  on, 
became  a  deep  submission  and  resignation  to  the 
will  of  God." 

PRAYER 

During  one  of  the  great  battles  near  Washing 
ton,  Lincoln  was  seen  going  into  his  room  with 


70         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

his  Bible.  Then  he  was  heard  to  pray  aloud,  so 
sincere,  so  earnest,  so  full  of  emotion,  as  only  a 
true  Christian  can  pray. 

AFTER  THE  BATTLE  OF  BULL  RUN 

After  the  second  battle  of  Bull  Run,  Lincoln 
was  deeply  depressed  because  of  the  heavy  losses 
of  the  Union  army.  "I  have  done  as  well  as  I 
could,"  said  he  at  the  time  to  a  woman  friend. 
"I  prayed  to  God  to  direct  me  the  right  way  and 
now  I  must  leave  the  consequences  to  Him  alone." 

LINCOLN'S  MOTHER 

His  mother  laid  the  foundation  for  Lincoln's 
religious  character.  After  he  became  President 
he  said,  speaking  of  his  mother : 

"I  recall  her  prayers  that  she  was  wont  to  offer 
on  Sundays  with  her  children  after  she  had  read 
to  them  stories  from  the  Bible.  They  have  fol 
lowed  me  everywhere  and  have  remained  with 
me  all  through  life." 

THE  CHURCH  HE  WANTS  TO  JOIN 

"On  an  occasion  I  shall  never  forget,"  says  the 
Hon.  H.  C.  Deming,  of  Connecticut,  "the  con 
versation  turned  upon  religious  subjects,  and  Mr. 
Lincoln  made  this  impressive  remark:  *I  have 
never  united  myself  to  any  church,  because  I  have 
found  difficulty  in  giving  my  assent,  without 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        71 

mental  reservation,  to  the  long,  complicated 
statements  of  Christian  doctrine  which  character 
ize  their  Articles  of  Belief  and  Confessions  of 
Faith.  When  any  church  will  inscribe  over  its 
altar,  as  its  sole  qualification  for  membership,'  he 
continued,  'the  Savior's  condensed  statement  of 
the  substance  of  both  Law  and  Gospel,  "Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart, 
and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself,"  that  church  will  I  join 
with  all  my  heart  and  all  my  soul.' ' 

WILL  BE  A  BETTER  MAN 
At  another  time  he  said,  cheerfully:  "I  am  very 
sure  that  if  I  do  not  go  away  from  here  a  wiser 
man,  I  shall  go  away  a  better  man,  for  having 
learned  here  what  a  very  poor  sort  of  a  man  I 
am." 

Afterwards,  referring  to  what  he  called  "a 
change  of  heart,"  he  said,  he  did  not  remember 
any  precise  time  when  he  passed  through  any 
special  change  of  purpose,  or  of  heart;  but  he 
would  say,  that  his  own  election  to  office,  and 
the  crisis  immediately  following,  influentially  de 
termined  him  in  what  he  called  "a  process  of 
crystallization,"  then  going  on  in  his  mind.  Ret 
icent  as  he  was,  and  shy  of  discoursing  much  on 
his  own  mental  exercises,  these  few  utterances 
now  have  a  value  with  those  who  knew  him,  which 
his  dying  words  would  scarcely  have  possessed. 
(Brooks.) 


72         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

FIRM   BELIEF   IN   OVER-RULING 
PROVIDENCE 

On  another  occasion,  when  a  number  of  the 
members  of  the  commission  were  holding  an  in 
terview  with  the  President,  Rev.  J.  T.  Duryea  of 
New  York  referred  to  the  trust  that  they  were 
encouraged  to  repose  in  the  Providence  of  God, 
and  to  the  fact  that  appeal  was  so  constantly 
made  to  it  in  the  prayers  of  Christian  people  that 
even  children  were  taught  to  pray  for  the  Presi 
dent  in  their  simple  morning  and  evening  peti 
tions. 

"If  it  were  not  for  my  firm  belief  in  an 
over-ruling  Providence,"  responded  Mr.  Lincoln, 
"it  would  be  difficult  for  me,  in  the  midst  of 
such  complications  of  affairs,  to  keep  my  reason 
on  its  seat.  But  I  am  confident  that  the  Almighty 
has  His  plans,  and  will  work  them  out;  and, 
whether  we  see  it  or  not,  they  will  be  the  wisest 
and  best  for  us.  I  have  always  taken  counsel  of 
Him,  and  referred  to  Him  my  plans,  and  have 
never  adopted  a  course  of  proceeding  without 
being  assured,  as  far  as  I  could  be,  of  His  appro 
bation.  To  be  sure,  He  has  not  conformed  to  my 
desires,  or  else  we  should  have  been  out  of  our 
trouble  long  ago.  On  the  other  hand,  His  will 
does  not  seem  to  agree  with  the  wish  of  our  enemy 
over  there"  (pointing  across  the  Potomac).  "He 
stands  the  Judge  between  us,  and  we  ought  to 
be  willing  to  accept  His  decisions.  We  have 


A  Rare  Lincoln  Photograph 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        73 

reason  to  anticipate  that  it  will  be  favorable  to  us, 
for  our  cause  is  right."  It  was  during  this  in 
terview  that  the  fact  was  privately  communicated 
to  a  member  of  the  commission,  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  in  the  habit  of  spending  an  early  hour  each 
day  in  prayer. 

When,  in  the  eventful  days  after  the  election  of 
1860,  the  Southern  States  were  rapidly  seceding, 
and  the  fate  of  the  Union  seemed  so  dark  and 
ominous,  it  was  a  Springfield  citizen  and  neighbor 
of  Lincoln,  William  H.  Herndon,  who,  in  answer 
to  a  New  England  correspondent  anxiously  in 
quiring  if,  in  his  opinion,  the  Western  circuit- 
court  lawyer  who  had  just  been  elected  to  the 
Presidency  would  be  big  and  brave  enough  to 
deal  with  the  great  and  tremendous  problems  that 
awaited  him,  said: 

"You  need  have  no  fear  on  that  score.  You 
and  I  must  keep  the  people  right;  God  will  keep 
Abraham  Lincoln  right." 


TO   DELEGATIONS 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        77 

TO  THE  BAPTIST  MINISTERS,  MAY  30,  1864 
"In  response  to  the  preamble  and  resolutions  of 
the  American  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society, 
which  you  did  me  the  honor  to  present,  I  can 
only  thank  you  for  thus  adding  to  the  effective 
and  almost  unanimous  support  which  the  Chris 
tian  communities  are  so  zealously  giving  to  the 
country  and  to  liberty.  Indeed,  it  is  difficult 
to  conceive  how  it  could  be  otherwise  with  any 
one  professing  Christianity,  or  even  having  or 
dinary  perceptions  of  right  and  wrong.  To  read 
in  the  Bible,  as  the  word  of  God  Himself,  that  'In 
the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread,'  and 
to  preach  therefrom  that,  'In  the  sweat  of  other 
men's  faces  shalt  thou  eat  bread,'  to  my  mind 
can  scarcely  be  reconciled  with  honest  sincerity. 
When  brought  to  my  final  reckoning,  may  I  have 
to  answer  for  robbing  no  man  of  his  goods;  yet 
more  tolerable  even  this,  than  robbing  one  of 
himself  and  all  that  was  his.  When,  a  year  or 
two  ago,  those  professedly  holy  men  of  the  South 
met  in  the  semblance  of  prayer  and  devotion,  and, 
in  the  name  of  Him  who  said,  'As  ye  would  all 
men  should  do  unto  you,  do  ye  even  so  unto 
them,'  appealed  to  the  Christian  world  to  aid 
them  in  doing  to  a  whole  race  of  men  as  they 
would  have  no  man  do  unto  themselves,  to  my 
thinking  they  contemned  and  insulted  God  and 
His  church  far  more  than  did  Satan  when  he 
tempted  the  Savior  with  the  kingdoms  of  the 


78         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?  . 

earth.  The  devil's  attempt  was  no  more  false 
and  far  less  hypocritical.  But  let  me  forbear, 
remembering  it  is  also  written,  'Judge  not  lest 
ye  be  judged.' ' 

TO  THE  COLORED  PEOPLE  OF  BALTIMORE 

To  the  colored  people  of  Baltimore  who  pre 
sented  him  with  a  costly  Bible  on  July  4th.  1864: 

"In  regard  to  the  great  book,  I  have  only  to 
say,  it  is  the  best  gift  which  God  has  ever  given 
man. 

"All  the  good  from  the  Savior  of  the  World 
is  communicated  to  us  through  this  book.  But 
for  that  book  we  could  not  know  right  from 
wrong.  All  those  things  desirable  to  man  are 
contained  in  it.  I  return  you  my  sincere  thanks 
for  this  very  elegant  copy  of  the  great  book  of 
God  which  you  present." 

TO  THE  EVANGELICAL  LUTHERANS 

"You  well  know,  gentlemen,  and  the  world 
knows,  how  reluctantly  I  accepted  this  issue 
of  battle  forced  upon  me  on  my  advent  to 
this  place  by  the  internal  enemies  of  our  country. 
You  all  know,  the  world  knows,  the  forces  and 
the  resources  the  public  agents  have  brought  into 
employment  to  sustain  a  government  against 
which  there  has  been  brought  not  one  complaint 
of  real  injury  committed  against  society  at  home 


Mrs.  Lincoln  as  Mistress  of  the  White  House 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        79 

or  abroad.  You  all  may  recollect  that  in  taking 
up  the  sword  thus  forced  into  our  hands,  this 
government  appealed  to  the  prayers  of  the  pious 
and  the  good,  and  declared  that  it  placed  its  whole 
dependence  upon  the  favor  of  God.  I  now  hum 
bly  and  reverently,  in  your  presence,  reiterate 
the  acknowledgment  of  that  dependence,  not 
doubting  that,  if  it  shall  please  the  Divine  Being 
who  determines  the  destinies  of  nations,  this  shall 
remain  a  united  people,  and  that  they  will,  hum 
bly  seeking  the  Divine  guidance,  make  their  pro 
longed  national  existence  a  source  of  new  bene 
fits  to  themselves  and  their  successors,  and  to  all 
classes  and  conditions  of  mankind." 

TO   A   DELEGATION   OF   METHODISTS, 
MAY  14,  1864 

"Nobly  sustained  as  the  government  has  been 
by  all  the  churches,  I  would  utter  nothing  which 
might  in  the  least  appear  invidious  against  any. 
Yet  without  this  it  may  fairly  be  said  that  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  not  less  devoted 
than  the  best,  is  by  its  greater  numbers  the  most 
important  of  all.  It  is  no  fault  in  others  that  the 
Methodist  Church  sends  more  soldiers  to  the  field, 
more  nurses  to  the  hospital,  and  more  prayers  to 
Heaven  than  any.  God  bless  the  Methodist 
Church;  bless  all  the  churches  and  blessed  be 
God,  who,  in  this  our  great  trial,  giveth  us  the 
churches." 


80         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

TO  THE  PRESBYTERIANS,  MAY  30,  1863 
"As  a  pilot  I  have  used  my  best  exertions  to 
keep  afloat  our  Ship  of  State,  and  shall  be  glad  to 
resign  my  trust  at  the  appointed  time  to  another 
pilot  more  skilful  and  successful  than  I  may 
prove.  In  every  case  and  at  all  hazards  the  gov 
ernment  must  be  perpetuated.  Relying,  as  I  do, 
upon  the  Almighty  Power,  and  encouraged,  as 
I  am,  by  these  resolutions  which  you  have  just 
read,  with  the  support  which  I  receive  from  Chris 
tian  men,  I  shall  not  hesitate  to  use  all  the  means 
at  my  control  to  secure  the  termination  of  this 
rebellion,  and  will  hope  for  success." 

TO  ARCHBISHOP  HUGHES,  OCTOBER  21,  1861 
"I  find  no  law  authorizing  the  appointment  of 
chaplains  for  our  hospitals;  and  yet  the  services 
of  chaplains  are  more  needed,  perhaps,  in  the 
hospitals  than  with  the  healthy  soldiers  in  the 
field.  With  this  view,  I  have  given  a  sort  of  quasi- 
appointment  (a  copy  of  which  I  enclose)  to  each 
of  three  Protestant  ministers,  who  have  accepted 
and  entered  upon  the  duties. 

"If  you  perceive  no  objection,  I  will  thank  you 
to  give  me  the  name  or  names  of  one  or  more 
suitable  persons  of  the  Catholic  Church,  to  whom 
I  may  with  propriety  tender  the  same  service." 

CAN'T  GO  TO  HEAVEN 
On  Thursday  of  a  certain  week,  two  ladies, 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        81 

from  Tennessee,  came  before  the  President,  ask 
ing  the  release  of  their  husbands,  held  as  prisoners 
of  war  at  Johnson's  Island.  They  were  put  off 
until  Friday,  when  they  came  again,  and  were 
again  put  off  until  Saturday.  At  each  of  the  in 
terviews  one  of  the  ladies  urged  that  her  hus 
band  was  a  religious  man.  On  Saturday,  when 
the  President  ordered  the  release  of  the  prisoner, 
he  said  to  this  lady: 

"You  say  your  husband  is  a  religious  man;  tell 
him,  when  you  meet  him,  that  I  say  I  am  not 
much  of  a  judge  of  religion,  but  that  in  my 
opinion  the  religion  which  sets  men  to  rebel  and 
fight  against  their  government,  because,  as  they 
think,  that  government  does  not  sufficiently  help 
some  men  to  eat  their  bread  in  the  sweat  of  other 
men's  faces,  is  not  the  sort  of  religion  upon  which 
people  can  get  to  Heaven." 

TO  MRS.  GURNEY,  WIFE  OF  PASTOR  OF  THE 
CHURCH  HE  ATTENDED 

"In  the  very  responsible  position  in  which  I 
happen  to  be  placed,  being  a  humble  instrument  in 
the  hands  of  our  Heavenly  Father  as  I  am,  and  as 
we  all  are,  to  work  out  His  great  purposes,  I  have 
desired  that  all  my  works  and  acts  may  be  accord 
ing  to  His  will,  and  that  it  might  be  so,  I  have 
sought  His  aid;  but  if,  after  endeavoring  to  do  my 
best  in  the  light  which  He  affords  me,  I  find  my 


82         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

efforts  fail,  I  must  believe  that,  for  some  purpose 
unknown  to  me,  He  wills  it  otherwise.  If  I  had 
had  my  way,  this  war  would  never  have  been  com 
menced.  If  I  had  been  allowed  my  way,  this  war 
would  have  been  ended  before  this;  but  we  find 
it  still  continues,  and  we  must  believe  that  He 
permits  it  for  some  wise  purpose  of  His  own, 
mysterious  and  unknown  to  us ;  and  though  with 
our  limited  understandings  we  may  not  be  able  to 
comprehend  it,  yet  we  cannot  but  believe  that  He 
who  made  the  world  still  governs  it." 


TO  MRS.  E.  P.  GURNEY 

"I  am  much  indebted  to  the  good  Christian 
people  of  the  country  for  their  constant  prayers 
and  consolations;  and  to  no  one  of  them  more 
than  to  yourself.  The  purposes  of  the  Almighty 
are  perfect,  and  must  prevail,  though  we  erring 
mortals  may  fail  to  accurately  perceive  them  in 
advance.  We  hoped  for  a  happy  termination  of 
this  terrible  war  long  before  this ;  but  God  knows 
best,  and  has  ruled  otherwise.  We  shall  yet  ac 
knowledge  His  wisdom,  and  our  own  error 
therein.  Meanwhile  we  must  work  earnestly  in 
the  best  lights  He  gives  us,  trusting  that  so  work 
ing  still  conduces  to  the  great  ends  He  ordains. 
Surely  He  intends  some  great  good  to  follow  this 
mighty  convulsion,  which  no  mortal  could  make, 
and  no  mortal  could  stay." 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        83 

READ  THE  BIBLE 

A  year  before  his  death,  addressing  his  friend 
Joshua  Speed,  he  said: 

"I  am  profitably  engaged  reading  the  Bible. 
Try  to  comprehend  as  much  as  possible  of  this 
book  with  your  mind  and  accept  the  rest  with 
faith,  and  you  will  live  and  die  a  better  man." 

GOD  WILL  NOT  DESERT  ME 
Lincoln  was  greatly  disturbed  when  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  tendered  his  resignation. 
He  named  Senator  Fessenden  as  his  successor, 
but  Fessenden  declined  the  appointment.  I  Jn- 
coln,  deeply  moved,  said  to  Fessenden: 

"God  has  not  deserted  me  as  yet,  and  He  will 
not  desert  me  now." 

EMANCIPATING  THE  SLAVES 
A  few  days  before  issuing  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation  he  expressed  himself  to  several  of 
his  cabinet  members: 

"I  have  made  a  solemn  vow  that  as  soon  as 
Gen.  Lee  shall  have  been  driven  out  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  I  will  crown  the  event  by  emancipating  the 
slaves." 

SHOULD  BE  ON  THE  LORD'S  SIDE 
To  the  remark  of  a  clergyman  that  he  hoped 
"the  Lord  was  on  our  side":  "I  am  not  con 
cerned  about  that,"  replied  Lincoln,  "for  I  know 


84         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

that  the  Lord  is  always  on  the  side  of  the  right. 
But  it  is  my  constant  anxiety  and  prayer  that 
I  and  this  Nation  should  be  on  the  Lord's  side." 

"The  purposes  of  the  Almighty  are  perfect, 
and  must  prevail,  though  we  erring  mortals  may 
fail  to  accurately  perceive  them  in  advance." 

"God  must  like  common  people,  or  he  would 
not  have  made  so  many  of  them." 

SENDS  MESSAGES  VIA  CHICAGO? 

Characteristic  is  the  reply  Lincoln  once  gave 
a  delegation  of  Chicago  ministers,  who  had  come 
to  demand  that  he  proclaim  the  liberty  of  states. 
The  speaker  of  the  delegates  closed  with  these 
words:  "This  is  a  message  from  the  Lord  that  is 
coming  to  you!" 

"Ah,"  was  Lincoln's  sarcastic  reply.  "I  did 
not  know  that  the  Lord  sends  me  His  messages 
by  way  of  Chicago." 

HIS  LAST  WORDS  TO  HIS  WIFE 

"There  is  no  city  in  this  world  that  I  should 
like  to  see  as  much  as  Jerusalem." 

These  were  Lincoln's  last  words  addressed  to 
his  wife.  He  had  hardly  spoken  them  when  the 
bullet  of  the  murderer  struck  him  down.  ( Emily 
Todd  Helm  in  McClure's,  September,  1898.) 


One  of  the  Most  Interesting  of  all  Lincoln  Portraits 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        85 

What  a  remarkable  coincidence.  When  Lin 
coln  said  these  words,  he  had  in  mind  an  earthly 
city,  the  Jerusalem  of  the  Orient. 

This  desire  was  not  fulfilled,  but  instead,  he 
was  to  see  the  more  beautiful,  the  holy  city — the 
heavenly  Jerusalem. 


STATE   PAPERS 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        89 

FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 
"Why  should  there  not  be  a  patient  confidence 
in  the  ultimate  justice  of  the  people?  Is  there 
any  better  or  equal  hope  in  the  world?  In  our 
present  differences  is  either  party  without  faith 
of  being  in  the  right?  If  the  Almighty  Ruler  of 
Nations,  with  His  eternal  truth  and  justice,  be 
on  your  side  of  the  North,  or  on  yours  of  the 
South,  that  truth  and  that  justice  will  surely 
prevail  by  the  judgment  of  this  great  tribunal  of 
the  American  people. 

"If  it  were  admitted  that  you  who  are  dissatis 
fied  hold  the  right  side  in  the  dispute,  there  still 
is  no  single  good  reason  for  precipitate  action. 
Intelligence,  patriotism,  Christianity  and  a  firm 
reliance  on  Him  who  has  never  yet  forsaken  this 
favored  land,  are  still  competent  to  adjust  in 
the  best  way  all  our  present  difficulty. 

"In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow-country 
men,  and  not  in  mine,  is  the  momentous  issue  of 
civil  war.  The  government  will  not  assail  you. 
You  can  have  no  conflict  without  being  yourselves 
the  aggressors.  You  have  no  oath  registered  in 
Heaven  to  destroy  the  government,  while  I  shall 
have  the  most  solemn  one  to  'preserve,  protect 
and  defend  it.' ' 

EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION 

"And  upon  this  act,  sincerely  believed  to  be  an 
act  of  justice,  warranted  by  the  Constitution 


90         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

upon  military  necessity,  I  invoke  the  considerate 
judgment  of  mankind  and  the  gracious  favor  of 
Almighty  God." 

SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 
"Neither  party  expected  for  the  war  the  magni 
tude  or  the  duration  which  it  has  already  attained. 
Neither  anticipated  that  the  cause  of  the  conflict 
might  cease  with,  or  even  before,  the  conflict  itself 
should  cease.  Each  looked  for  an  easier  triumph, 
and  a  result  less  fundamental  and  astounding. 
Both  read  the  same  Bible,  and  pray  to  the  same 
God ;  and  each  invokes  His  aid  against  the  other. 
It  may  seem  strange  that  any  man  should  dare  to 
ask  a  just  God's  assistance  in  wringing  his 
bread  from  the  sweat  of  other  men's  faces ;  but  let 
us  judge  not,  that  we  be  not  judged.  The  pray 
ers  of  both  could  not  be  answered — that  of  neither 
has  been  answered  fully. 

"The  Almighty  has  His  own  purposes.  'Woe 
unto  the  world  because  of  offenses!  for  it  must 
needs  be  that  offenses  come ;  but  woe  to  that  man 
by  whom  the  offense  cometh.'  If  we  shall  sup 
pose  that  American  slavery  is  one  of  those  of 
fenses  which,  in  the  providence  of  God,  must  needs 
come,  but  which,  having  continued  through  His 
appointed  time,  He  now  wills  to  remove,  and  that 
He  gives  to  both  North  and  South  this  terrible 
war  as  the  woe  due  to  those  by  whom  the  offense 
came,  shall  we  discern  therein  any  departure  from 


Lincoln  and  His  Cabinet 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        91 

those  Divine  attributes  which  the  believers  in  a 
living  God  always  ascribe  to  Him?  Fondly  do 
we  hope,  —  fervently  do  we  pray  —  that  this 
mighty  scourge  of  war  may  speedily  pass  away. 
Yet,  if  God  wills  that  it  continue  until  all  the 
wealth  piled  by  the  bondman's  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk,  until 
every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be 
paid  by  another  drawn  with  the  sword,  as  was 
said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be 
said,  'The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and 
righteous  altogether.' 

"With  malice  toward  none ;  with  charity  for  all ; 
with  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see 
the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we  are 
in ;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds ;  to  care  for  him 
who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow, 
and  his  orphan — to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and 
cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves, 
and  with  all  nations." 

GETTYSBURG  ADDRESS,  NOVEMBER  19,  1863 

"But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate — 
we  cannot  consecrate — we  cannot  hallow — this 
ground.  The  brave  men,  living  and  dead,  who 
struggled  here,  have  consecrated  it  far  above  our 
poor  power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world  will  lit 
tle  note  nor  long  remember  what  we  say  here,  but 
it  can  never  forget  what  they  did  here.  It  is  for 


92         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

us,  the  living,  rather,  to  be  dedicated  here  to  the 
unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here  have 
thus  far  so  nobly  advanced.  It  is  rather  for  us  to 
be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining  be 
fore  us — that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take 
increased  devotion  to  that  cause  for  which  they 
gave  the  last  full  measure  of  devotion;  that  we 
here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not  have 
died  in  vain;  that  this  nation,  under  God,  shall 
have  a  new  birth  of  freedom ;  and  that  government 
of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people,  shall 
not  perish  from  the  earth." 

ORDER  FOR  SABBATH  OBSERVANCE, 
NOVEMBER  15,  1862 

"The  President,  commander-in-chief  of  the  ar 
my  and  navy,  desires  and  enjoins  the  orderly  ob 
servance  of  the  Sabbath  by  the  officers  and  men 
in  the  military  and  naval  service.  The  impor 
tance  to  man  and  beast  of  the  prescribed  weekly 
rest,  the  sacred  rights  of  Christian  soldiers  and 
sailors,  a  becoming  deference  to  the  best  senti 
ment  of  a  Christian  people,  and  a  due  regard  for 
the  Divine  will,  demand  that  Sunday  labor  in  the 
army  and  navy  be  reduced  to  the  measure  of 
strict  necessity.  The  discipline  and  character  of 
the  national  forces  should  not  suffer,  nor  the 
cause  they  defend  be  imperiled,  by  the  profana 
tion  of  the  day  or  name  of  the  Most  High. 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        93 

'At  this  time  of  public  distress' — adopting  the 
words  of  Washington  in  1776 — 'men  may  find 
enough  to  do  in  the  service  of  God  and  their  coun 
try  without  abandoning  themselves  to  vice  and 
immorality.'  The  first  general  order  issued  by 
the  Father  of  his  Country  after  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  indicates  the  spirit  in  which  our 
institutions  were  founded  and  should  ever  be 
defended.  'The  general  hopes  and  trusts  that 
every  officer  and  man  will  endeavor  to  live  and  act 
as  becomes  a  Christian  soldier,  defending  the 
dearest  rights  and  liberties  of  his  country/  ' 

IN  MESSAGE  TO  CONGRESS,  JULY  i,  1861 
"Having  thus  chosen  our  course,  without  guile 
and  with  pure  purpose,  let  us  renew  our  trust  in 
God,   and  go   forward  without   fear   and  with 
manly  hearts." 

IN  A  LETTER  TO  SECRETARY  STANTON, 
FEBRUARY  n,  1864 

"I  have  never  interfered  nor  thought  of  inter 
fering  as  to  who  shall  or  shall  not  preach  in  any 
church;  nor  have  I  knowingly  or  believingly  tol 
erated  any  one  else  to  so  interfere  by  my  author 
ity.  If  any  one  is  so  interfering  by  color  of  my 
authority,  I  would  like  to  have  it  specifically 
made  known  to  me.  ...  I  will  not  have 
control  of  any  church  on  any  side."  (Nicolay 
and  Hay.) 


94         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

TO  GENERAL  CURTIS,  JANUARY,  1864 
"The  United  States  Government  must  not  un 
dertake  to  run  the  churches.  When  an  individual 
in  a  church  or  out  of  it  becomes  dangerous  to  the 
public  interest,  he  must  be  checked,  but  the 
churches  must  take  care  of  themselves.  It  will 
not  do  for  the  United  States  Government  to  ap 
point  agents  for  the  churches." 


LINCOLN   AND   REV.   C.   CHENIQUY 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        97 

In  concluding  we  cannot  deny  ourselves  the 
privilege  of  repeating  the  sublime  words  which  the 
Rev.  C.  Cheniquy  ascribes  to  Lincoln;  words,  the 
authenticity  of  which  is  doubted  by  some,  al 
though  others  are  fully  satisfied  that  they  are 
genuine.  While  the  words  are  here  repeated 
without  comment  as  to  their  reliability,  it  must 
be  admitted  that,  when  compared  with  what  Lin 
coln  said  to  Bateman,  Gillespie  and  Gov.  Bram- 
lett,  and  when  we  place  side  by  side  with  them 
the  sublime  words  of  Lincoln's  second  inaugural 
address  and  of  other  state  papers,  it  does  not  ap 
pear  impossible  that  these  words  of  Lincoln  are 
really  authentic.  They  are  so  eloquent,  so  sub 
lime,  that  one  almost  feels  as  if  they  were  inspired, 
as  such  words  seldom  come  from  the  lips  of  mor 
tals. 

Cheniquy  believed  that  he  had  proof  that  Lin 
coln's  assassination  had  been  planned  by  some 
certain  faction.  He  went  to  Washington  to  warn 
Lincoln  to  be  on  his  guard.  Lincoln,  who  had 
made  Cheniquy's  acquaintance  in  a  law  suit,  in 
which  he  represented  him,  gave  an  audience  to  the 
former  priest.  After  Cheniquy  had  explained 
his  errand  Lincoln  replied  in  part: 

"You  are  not  the  first  to  warn  me  against  the 
dangers  of  assassination.  My  ambassadors  in  It 
aly,  France  and  England,  as  well  as  Professor 
Morse,  have,  many  times,  warned  me  against  the 


98         Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

plots  of  the  murderers  whom  they  have  detected 
in  those  different  countries.  But  I  see  no  other 
safeguard  against  those  murderers,  but  to  be  al 
ways  ready  to  die,  as  Christ  advises  it.  As  we 
must  all  die  sooner  or  later,  it  makes  very  little 
difference  to  me  whether  I  die  from  a  dagger 
plunged  through  the  heart  or  from  an  inflamma 
tion  of  the  lungs.  Let  me  tell  you  that  I  have, 
lately,  read  a  message  in  the  Old  Testament  which 
has  made  a  profound,  and,  I  hope,  a  salutary  im 
pression  on  me.  Here  is  that  passage." 

The  President  took  his  Bible,  opened  it  at  the 
third  chapter  of  Deuteronomy,  and  read  from  the 
22nd  to  the  28th  verse: 

'  '22.  Ye  shall  not  fear  them;  for  the  Lord 
your  God  shall  fight  for  you. 

"  '23.  And  I  besought  the  Lord  at  that  time, 
saying : 

'  '24.  O  Lord  God,  thou  hast  begun  to  show 
thy  servant  thy  greatness,  and  thy  mighty  hand; 
for  what  God  is  there,  in  heaven  or  in  earth,  that 
can  do  according  to  thy  words,  and  according 
to  thy  might ! 

'  '25.  I  pray  thee,  let  me  go  over  and  see  the 
good  land  that  is  beyond  Jordan,  that  goodly 
mountain,  and  Lebanon. 

'  '26.  But  God  was  wroth  with  me  for  your 
sakes,  and  would  not  hear  me :  and  the  Lord  said 
unto  me,  let  it  suffice  thee :  speak  no  more  unto  me 
of  this  matter : 


Lincoln  in  1864 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?        99 

'  '27.  Get  thee  up  unto  the  top  of  Pisgah,  and 
lift  up  thine  eyes  westward  and  northward,  and 
southward  and  eastward,  and  behold  it  with  thine 
eyes ;  for  thou  shalt  not  go  over  this  Jordan/  ' 

After  the  President  had  read  these  words  with 
great  solemnity,  he  added : 

"My  dear  Father  Cheniquy,  let  me  tell  you 
that  I  have  read  these  strange  and  beautiful 
words  several  times,  these  last  five  or  six  weeks. 
The  more  I  read  them,  the  more,  it  seems  to  me, 
that  God  has  written  them  for  me  as  well  as  for 
Moses// 

"Has  He  not  taken  me  from  my  poor  log  cabin, 
by  the  hand,  as  He  did  of  Moses  in  the  reeds  of  the 
Nile,  to  put  me  at  the  head  of  the  greatest  and 
most  blessed  of  modern  nations  just  as  He  put 
that  prophet  at  the  head  of  the  most  blessed  nation 
of  ancient  times?  Has  not  God  granted  me  a  priv 
ilege,  which  was  not  granted  to  any  living  man, 
when  I  broke  the  fetters  of  4,000,000  of  men,  and 
made  them  free?  Has  not  our  God  given  me  the 
most  glorious  victories  over  our  enemies?  Are 
not  the  armies  of  the  Confederacy  so  reduced  to  a 
handful  of  men,  when  compared  to  what  they 
were  two  years  ago,  that  the  day  is  fast  approach 
ing  when  they  will  have  to  surrender? 

"Now,  I  see  the  end  of  this  terrible  conflict, 
with  the  same  joy  of  Moses,  when  at  the  end  of  his 
trying  forty  years  in  the  wilderness;  and  I  pray 
my  God  to  grant  me  to  see  the  days  of  peace  and 


100       Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

untold  prosperity,  which  will  follow  this  cruel 
war,  as  Moses  asked  God  to  see  the  other  side  of 
Jordan,  and  enter  the  Promised  Land.  But,  do 
you  know,  that  I  hear  in  my  soul,  as  the  voice  of 
God,  giving  me  the  rebuke  which  was  given  to 
Moses? 

"Yes!  every  time  that  my  soul  goes  to  God  to 
ask  the  favor  of  seeing  the  other  side  of  Jordan, 
and  eating  the  fruits  of  that  peace,  after  which  I 
am  longing  with  such  an  unspeakable  desire,  do 
you  know  that  there  is  a  still  but  solemn  voice 
which  tells  me  that  I  will  see  those  things  only 
from  a  long  distance,  and  that  I  will  be  among 
the  dead  when  the  nation,  which  God  granted  me 
to  lead  through  those  awful  trials,  will  cross  the 
Jordan,  and  dwell  in  that  Land  of  Promise,  where 
peace,  industry,  happiness  and  liberty  will  make 
every  one  happy;  and  why  so?  Because  Pie  has 
already  given  me  favors  which  He  never  gave,  I 
dare  say,  to  any  man  in  these  latter  days. 

"Why  did  God  Almighty  refuse  to  Moses  the 
favor  of  crossing  the  Jordan,  and  entering  the 
Promised  Land?  It  was  on  account  of  the  na 
tion's  sins!  That  law  of  Divine  retribution  and 
justice,  by  which  one  must  suffer  for  another,  is 
surely  a  terrible  mystery.  But  it  is  a  fact  which 
no  man  who  has  any  intelligence  and  knowledge 
can  deny.  Moses,  who  knew  that  law,  though  he 
probably  did  not  understand  it  better  than  we  do, 
calmly  says  to  his  people:  'God  was  wroth  with 
me  for  your  sakes.' 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?      101 

"But,  though  we  do  not  understand  that  mys 
terious  and  terrible  law,  we  find  it  written  in  let 
ters  of  tears  and  blood  wherever  we  go.  We  do 
not  read  a  single  page  of  history  without  finding 
undeniable  traces  of  its  existence. 

"Where  is  the  mother  who  has  not  shed  tears 
and  suffered  real  tortures,  for  her  children's  sake? 

"Who  is  the  good  king,  the  worthy  emperor, 
the  gifted  chieftain,  who  have  not  suffered  un 
speakable  mental  agonies,  or  even  death,  for  their 
people's  sake? 

"Is  not  our  Christian  religion  the  highest  ex 
pression  of  the  wisdom,  mercy  and  love  of  God! 
But  what  is  Christianity  if  not  the  very  incarna 
tion  of  that  eternal  law  of  Divine  justice  in  our 
humanity? 

"When  I  look  on  Moses,  alone,  silently  dying 
on  the  Mount  Pisgah,  I  see  that  law,  in  one  of 
its  most  sublime  human  manifestations,  and  I  am 
filled  with  admiration  and  awe. 

"But  when  I  consider  that  law  of  justice,  and 
expiation  in  the  death  of  the  Just,  the  divine  Son 
of  Mary,  on  the  mountain  of  Calvary,  I  remain 
mute  in  my  adoration.  The  spectacle  of  the  Cru 
cified  One  which  is  before  my  eyes  is  more  than 
sublime,  it  is  divine!  Moses  died  for  his  people's 
sake,  but  Christ  died  for  the  whole  world's  sake! 
Both  died  to  fulfill  the  same  eternal  law  of  the 
Divine  justice,  though  in  a  different  measure. 

"Now,  would  it  not  be  the  greatest  of  honors 


102       Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

and  privileges  bestowed  upon  me,  if  God,  in  His 
infinite  love,  mercy  and  wisdom,  would  put  me 
between  His  faithful  servant,  Moses,  and  His 
eternal  Son,  Jesus,  that  I  might  die  as  they  did, 
for  my  nation's  sake ! 

"My  God  alone  knows  what  I  have  already  suf 
fered  for  my  dear  country's  sake.  But  my  fear 
is  that  the  justice  of  God  is  not  yet  paid.  When 
I  look  upon  the  rivers  of  tears  and  blood  drawn 
by  the  lashes  of  the  merciless  masters  from  the 
veins  of  the  very  heart  of  those  millions  of  de 
fenseless  slaves,  these  two  hundred  years ;  when  I 
remember  the  agonies,  the  cries,  the  unspeakable 
tortures  of  those  unfortunate  people  to  which  I 
have,  to  some  extent,  connived  with  so  many 
others  a  part  of  my  life,  I  fear  that  we  are  still 
far  from  the  complete  expiation.  For  the  judg 
ments  of  God  are  true  and  righteous. 

"It  seems  to  me  that  the  Lord  wants  to-day,  as 
He  wanted  in  the  days  of  Moses,  another  victim— 
a  victim  which  He  has  Himself  chosen,  anointed 
and  prepared  for  the  sacrifice,  by  raising  it  above 
the  rest  of  His  people.  I  cannot  conceal  from  you 
that  my  impression  is  that  I  am  the  victim.  So 
many  plots  have  already  been  made  against  my 
life,  that  it  is  a  real  miracle  that  they  have  all 
failed.  But  can  we  expect  that  God  will  make  a 
perpetual  miracle  to  save  my  life?  I  believe  not. 

"But  just  as  the  Lord  heard  no  murmur  from 
the  lips  of  Moses,  when  He  told  him  that  he  had  to 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?    103 

die  before  crossing  the  Jordan,  for  the  sins  of  his 
people,  so  I  hope  and  pray  that  He  will  hear  no 
murmur  from  me  when  I  fall  for  my  nation's 
sake. 

"The  only  two  favors  I  ask  of  the  Lord,  are, 
first,  that  I  may  die  for  the  sacred  cause  in  which 
I  am  engaged,  and  when  I  am  the  standard- 
bearer  of  the  rights  and  liberties  of  my  country. 

"The  second  favor  I  ask  from  God,  is  that  my 
dear  son,  Robert,  when  I  am  gone,  will  be  one  of 
those  who  lift  up  that  flag  of  Liberty  which  will 
cover  my  tomb,  and  carry  it  with  honor  and  fidel 
ity  to  the  end  of  his  life,  as  his  father  did,  sur 
rounded  by  the  millions  who  will  be  called  with 
him  to  fight  and  die  for  the  defense  and  honor  of 
our  country." 

"Never  had  I  heard  such  sublime  words,"  says 
Father  Cheniquy.  "Never  had  I  seen  a  human 
face  so  solemn  and  so  prophet-like  as  the  face  of 
the  President,  when  uttering  these  things.  Every 
sentence  had  come  to  me  as  a  hymn  from  heaven, 
reverberated  by  the  echoes  of  the  mountains  of 
Pisgah  and  Calvary.  I  was  beside  myself. 
Bathed  in  tears,  I  tried  to  say  something,  but  I 
could  not  utter  a  word. 

"I  knew  the  hour  to  leave  had  come.  I  asked 
from  the  President  permission  to  fall  on  my  knees 
and  pray  with  him  that  his  life  might  be  spared; 
and  he  knelt  with  me.  But  I  prayed  more  with 
my  tears  and  sobs  than  with  my  words. 


104       Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

"Then  I  pressed  his  hand  on  my  lips  and 
bathed  it  with  my  tears,  and  with  a  heart  filled 
with  an  unspeakable  desolation,  I  bade  him 
Adieu!  It  was  for  the  last  time! 

"For  the  hour  was  fast  approaching  when  he 
was  to  fall  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin,  for  his  na 
tion's  sake." 

And  with  this  we  leave  the  reader  to  form  his 
own  opinion  on  the  question:  "Was  Abraham 
Lincoln  an  infidel?" 


The  Last  Portrait  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Taken  April  9,  1865, 
the  Sunday  Before  His  Assassination 


OPINIONS  OF  LINCOLN'S  RELIGIOUS 
CHARACTER 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?       107 

HON.  I.  N.  ARNOLD 

"It  is  very  strange  that  any  reader  of  Lincoln's 
speeches  and  writings  should  have  the  hardihood 
to  charge  him  with  a  want  of  religious  feeling. 
No  more  reverent  Christian  than  he  ever  sat  in 
the  Executive  chair,  not  excepting  Washington. 
From  the  time  he  left  Spring 
field  to  his  death  he  not  only  himself  continually 
prayed  for  Divine  assistance,  but  constantly 
asked  the  prayers  of  his  friends  for  himself  and 
his  country.  ....  Doubtless,  like 
many  others,  he  passed  through  periods  of  doubt 
and  perplexity When  the  un 
believer  shall  convince  the  people  that  this  man 
whose  life  was  straightforward,  clear  and  honest, 
was  a  sham  and  a  hypocrite,  then,  but  not  before, 
may  he  make  the  world  doubt  his  Christianity." 

FRANCIS  BICKNELL  CARPENTER 
"Doubtless  Lincoln  felt  as  deeply  upon  the 
great  questions  of  the  soul  and  eternity  as  any 
other  thoughtful  man;  but  the  very  tenderness 
and  humility  of  his  nature  would  not  permit  the 
exposure  of  his  inmost  convictions,  except  upon 
the  rarest  occasions,  and  to  his  most  intimate 
friends.  And  yet,  aside  from  emotional  expres 
sion,  I  believe  no  man  had  a  more  abiding  sense 
of  his  dependence  upon  God,  or  faith  in  the  Di 
vine  government,  and  in  the  power  and  ultimate 
triumph  of  Truth  and  Right  in  the  world." 


108       Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

J.  G.  HOLLAND 

"Lincoln  was  a  religious  man.  This  fact  may 
be  stated  without  any  reservation — with  only  an 
explanation.  He  believed  in  God,  and  in  His  per 
sonal  supervision  of  the  affairs  of  men.  He  be 
lieved  himself  to  be  under  His  control  and  guid 
ance.  He  believed  in  the  power  and  ultimate  tri 
umph  of  the  right,  through  his  belief  in  God.  This 
unwavering  faith  in  a  Divine  Providence  began  at 
his  mother's  knee,  and  ran  like  a  thread  of  gold 
through  all  the  inner  experiences  of  his  life.  His 
constant  sense  of  human  duty  was  one  of  the 
forms  by  which  his  faith  manifested  itself.  His 
conscience  took  a  broader  grasp  than  the  simple 
apprehension  of  right  and  wrong.  He  recognized 
an  immediate  relation  between  God  and  himself, 
in  all  the  actions  and  passions  of  his  life.  He  was 
not  professedly  a  Christian — that  is,  he  subscribed 
to  no  creed — joined  no  organization  of  Christian 
disciples.  He  spoke  little  then,  perhaps  less  than 
he  did  afterward,  and  always  sparingly,  of  his 
religious  belief  and  experiences;  but  that  he  had 
a  deep  religious  life,  sometimes  imbued  with 
superstition,  there  is  no  doubt.  We  guess  at  a 
mountain  of  marble  by  the  outcropping  ledges 
that  hide  their  whiteness  among  the  ferns." 

Holland  closes  his  remarks  about  Lincoln's 
character  as  follows:  "Mr.  Lincoln's  character 
was  one  which  will  grow.  It  will  become  the  basis 
of  an  ideal  man.  It  was  so  pure,  and  so  unselfish, 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?       109 

and  so  rich  in  its  materials,  that  fine  imaginations 
will  spring  from  it,  to  blossom  and  bear  fruit 
through  all  the  centuries.  This  element  was 
found  in  Washington,  whose  human  weaknesses 
seem  to  have  faded  entirely  from  memory,  leaving 
him  a  demi-god;  and  it  will  be  found  in  Mr.  Lin 
coln  in  a  still  more  remarkable  degree.  The  black 
race  have  already  crowned  him.  With  the  black 
man,  and  particularly  the  black  freedman,  Mr. 
Lincoln's  name  is  the  saintliest  which  he  pro 
nounces,  and  the  noblest  he  can  conceive.  To  the 
emancipated,  he  is  more  than  man — a  being 
scarcely  second  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  Himself. 
That  old,  white-headed  negro  who  undertook  to 
tell  you  what  'Massa  Linkum'  was  to  his  dark- 
minded  brethren,  embodied  the  vague  conceptions 
of  his  race  in  the  words :  'Massa  Linkum,  he  ebery 
whar;  he  know  ebery  ting;  he  walk  de  earf  like  de 
Lord.'  He  was  to  these  men  the  incarnation  of 
power  and  goodness ;  and  his  memory  will  live  in 
the  hearts  of  this  unfortunate  and  oppressed  race 
while  it  shall  exist  upon  the  earth." 

HE  WAS  A  VERY  HUMBLE  MAN 
Another  writer  says : 

"Certainly,  Mr.  Lincoln's  religion  was  very 
different  from  this.  It  was  one  which  sympa 
thized  with  all  human  sorrow;  which  lifted,  so  far 
as  it  had  the  power,  the  burden  from  the  op- 


110       Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

pressed;  which  let  the  prisoner  go  free,  and  which 
called  daily  for  supplies  of  strength  and  wisdom 
from  the  divine  fountains.  He  grew  more  reli 
gious  with  every  passing  year  of  his  official  life. 
The  tender  piety  that  breathed  in  some  of  his 
late  state  papers  is  unexampled  in  any  of  the 
utterances  of  his  predecessors.  In  all  the  great 
emergencies  of  his  closing  years,  his  reliance  upon 
Divine  guidance  and  assistance  was  often  ex 
tremely  touching.  'I  have  been  driven  many 
times  to  my  knees,'  he  once  remarked,  'by  the 
overwhelming  conviction  that  I  had  nowhere  else 
to  go.  My  own  wisdom  and  that  of  all  about 
me  seemed  insufficient  for  that  day.'  On  another 
occasion,  when  told  that  he  was  daily  remembered 
in  the  prayers  of  those  who  prayed,  he  said  that 
he  had  been  a  good  deal  helped  by  the  thought; 
and  then  he  added  with  much  solemnity:  'I  should 
be  the  most  presumptuous  blockhead  upon  this 
footstool,  if  I  for  one  day  thought  that  I  could 
discharge  the  duties  which  have  come  upon  me 
since  I  came  into  this  place  without  the  aid  and 
enlightenment  of  One  who  is  wiser  and  stronger 
than  all  others.'  He  always  remained  shy  in  the 
exposure  of  his  religious  experiences,  but  those 
around  him  caught  golden  glimpses  of  a  beautiful 
Christian  character.  With  failing  strength  and 
constant  weariness,  the  even  temper  of  the  man 
sometimes  gave  way,  while  his  frequent  ex 
perience  of  the  faithlessness  and  cupidity  of  men 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?       Ill 

made  him  at  last  distrustful  of  those  who  ap 
proached  him." 

Nicolay  and  Hay,  private  secretaries  to  Lin 
coln,  who  certainly  should  have  been  able  to  form 
an  unprejudiced  judgment  of  Lincoln's  charac 
ter,  have  this  to  say: 

"Lincoln  was  a  man  of  profound  and  intense 
religious  feeling.  He  continually  invited  and 
appreciated  at  their  highest  value  the  prayers  of 
good  people.  From  that  morning  when  standing 
amid  the  falling  snowflakes  on  the  railway  car  at 
Springfield  he  asked  the  prayers  of  his  neighbors 
in  those  touching  phrases  whose  echo  rose  that 
night  in  invocations  from  thousands  of  family 
altars,  to  the  memorable  hour  when,  on  the  steps 
of  the  national  capitol,  he  humbled  himself  before 
his  Creator  in  the  sublime  words  of  the  second  in 
augural,  there  is  not  an  expression  known  to 
have  come  from  his  lips  or  his  pen  but  proves  that 
he  held  himself  answerable  in  every  act  of  his  ca 
reer  to  a  more  august  tribunal  than  any  on  earth. 
The  fact  that  he  was  not  a  communicant  of  any 
church  and  that  he  was  singularly  reserved  in  re 
gard  to  his  personal  religious  life  gives  only  the 
greater  force  to  these  striking  proofs  of  his  pro 
found  reverence  and  faith." 

JOHN  G.  NICOLAY 

Outside  of  Lincoln's  private  family  no  one  was 
more  able  to  judge  Lincoln's  inner  life  than  his 


112       Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel? 

private  secretary,  John  G.  Nicolay.    He  has  this 
to  say  on  the  subject: 

"I  do  not  remember  ever  having  discussed  re 
ligion  with  Mr.  Lincoln,  nor  do  I  know  of  any 
authorized  statement  of  his  views  in  existence. 
He  sometimes  talked  freely,  and  never  made  any 
concealment  of  his  belief  or  unbelief  in  any  dogma 
or  doctrine,  but  never  provoked  religious  contro 
versies.  I  speak  more  from  his  disposition  and 
habits  than  from  any  positive  declaration  on  his 
part.  He  frequently  made  remarks  about  ser 
mons  he  had  heard,  books  he  had  read,  or  doc 
trines  that  had  been  advanced,  and  my  opinion 
as  to  his  religious  belief  is  based  upon  such  casual 
evidence.  There  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  that 
he  believed  in  a  Supreme  Being  of  omnipotent 
power  and  omniscient  watchfulness  over  the  chil 
dren  of  men,  and  that  this  Being  could  be  reached 
by  prayer. 

"Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  praying  man.  I  know  that 
to  be  a  fact.  And  I  have  heard  him  request  peo 
ple  to  pray  for  him,  which  he  would  not  have  done 
had  he  not  believed  that  prayer  is  answered. 

I  have  heard  him  say  that  he  prayed  for 
this  or  that,  and  remember  one  occasion  on  which 
he  remarked  that  if  a  certain  thing  did  not  occur 
he  would  lose  his  faith  in  prayer.  .  .  .  At  the 
same  time  he  did  not  believe  in  some  of  the  dog 
mas  of  the  orthodox  churches.  He  believed  in  the 
Bible,  however.  .  .  .  He  often  declared 


Was  Abraham  Lincoln  an  Infidel?      113 

that  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  contained  the  es 
sence  of  all  law  and  justice,  and  the  Lord's  Pray 
er  was  the  sublimest  composition  in  human  lan 
guage." 


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WINDING  WATERS.    By  Frances  Parker. 

Illustrated.    Cloth.     Price,  $1.50. 

Author  of  the  two  big  Western  successes  :  "  Hope  Hathaway  " 
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Tells  how  Ashton  Walbridge,  a  young  college  man,  enters 
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Richly  bound.    Price,  $1.25. 

The  author  of  this  splendid  book  possesses  that  rarest  of 
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THE  HEART  OF  SILENCE.    By  Walter  S.  Cramp. 

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The  scene  of  the  opening  part  of  this  story  is  laid  in  Italy  with 
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MY  SOLDIER  LADY.    By  Ella  Hamilton  Durley. 

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This  bright  little  book  gives  the  other  half  of  the  correspond 
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Illustrated.     Cloth.    Price,  $1.50. 

Decidedly  a  story  of  simple  country  life.  The  trials  and 
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ALICE  BRENTON.    By  Mary  Josephine  Gale. 

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The  author  has  drawn  a  vivid  picture  of  Colonial  Newport,  with 
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Mrs.  Gale  describes  the  sufferings  and  privations  of  the  people 
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THE  DOOR  WHERE  THE  WRONG  LAY.    By  Mary  E.  Greene. 

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A  story  that  will  well  repay  the  reading  is  "  The  Door  Where 
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A  KNIGHT  IN  HOMESPUN.    By  John  Charles  Spoth. 

Illustrated.     Cloth.    Price,  $1.50. 

A  homely  little  tale  of  wholesome  sentiment,  bearing  the  title, 
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time  in  the  hall  of  the  home  of  Dr.  Henry  Boosch,  while  it  watched 
the  development  of  the  human  drama  which  went  on  in  the  house 
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UNCLE  SIM.    By  Fred  Perrine  Lake. 

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A  story  with  a  charming  rural  setting  is  "Uncle  Sim."  It 
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is  well  worth  the  reader's  while— .Boston  Times. 

AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  BLUE  ANCHOR.     By  Grace  R.  Osgood. 

Illustrated.     Cloth.    Price,  $1.50. 

This  tale  of  Colonial  Days  in  New  Jersey  takes  one  among 
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the  Old  World  and  New. 


THE  TOBACCO    TILLER.    By  Sarah  Bell  Hackley. 

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A  strong  and  compelling  romance  woven  about  an  industry  and 
placed  in  a  section  of  the  country  that  is  attracting  international 
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IN  THE  TWILIGHT  ZONE.    By  Roger  Carey  Craven. 

Illustrated.     Cloth.    Price,  $1.50. 

A  story  of  the  South.  It  is  instinct  with  ambitions,  passions 
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THE  DRAGNET.    By  Elizabeth  B.  Bohan. 

Illustrated.    Cloth.    Price,  $1.50. 

A  timely  story  dealing  with  the  liquor  question  and  municipal 
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CHANEY'S  STRATAGEM.    By  Hannah  Courtenay  Pinnix. 

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A  striking  piece  of  fiction.  The  sudden  and  unexpected  turn 
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TOMPKINSVILLE  FOLKS.    By  Nettie  Stevens. 

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Is  a  careful  study  of  human  nature  in  human  life.  The  pathos 
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THE  CAREER  OF  JOY.    By  Grace  Eleanore  Towndrow. 

Illustrated.     Cloth.    Price,  $1.25. 

Genuinely,  tenderly,  and  with  a  pervasive  charm  impossible  to 
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to  the  woman's  life  after  the  fetters  of  a  loveless  marriage  enchain 
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THE  VASSALAGE.    By  Adelaide  Fuller  Bell. 

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The  story  is  vivid,  dramatic,  picturesque,  and  the  strong  strange 
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Wild  and  varied  as  the  ocean  itself  is  this  strong  tale  of  pirate 
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A  COWBOY  CAVALIER.    By  Harriet  C.  Morse. 

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A  Texas  ranch  is  the  background  of  a  love  story  whose  heroine 
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giving  pictures  of  rough  and  tragic  customs  that  will  soon  be  only 
memories. — McClurg's  Monthly  Bulletin. 

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A  vivid  and  realistic  tale  of  the  factional  wars  waged  by  the 
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THE  GARDEN 
SERIES 

By  CARRO  FRANCES  WARREN 

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LITTLE  TOPSY  THISTLE  AND  HER  FRIENDS. 

5)     LITTLE  PETER  PANSY. 
(6)     LITTLE  DANNY  DANDELION. 

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A         STORY         FOR         BOYS 

SIGNAL 
LIGHTS 

—  BY  — 

LOUISE   M.   HOPKINS 

Q  A  Frontier  Story  of  the  good,  old  fashioned  sort. 

Q  The  plot    starts  with   a  whoop,  and    fairly  races  to 
the  last  chapter. 

ITS  THE  SORT  OF  BOOK  A  BOY  WILL  FOR- 
GET  HIS  DINNER  TO  READ. 

4L  Its    tone    is    healthy  and    vigorous  —  It    excites    no 
morbid  fancies — it  will  do  the  boy  good  to  read  it. 

4L  The  story  is  full  of  characters  that 
have  good,  red  blood  in  them.  The 
hero,  Newton  Bolt,  is  just  the  sort  of 
boy  you  would  like  your  own  to  be. 

Fully  Illustrated — Handsomely  Bound  in   Cloth 


Price,  #1.50 

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BOSTON 


• 

<§-  Another  strong  success  from  the  pen  of  Charles  {§> 
<§}  Felton  Pidgin,  author  of  "  Quincy  Adams  -§> 
<§-  Sawyer"  "  Blennerhassett"  etc.,  is  entitled  {§> 

STHEODOSIAS 

VJ  "& 

§  The  First  Gentlewoman  of  Her  Time  § 

^  § 

§  - 

J|  The  Story  of  Her  Life,  and  a  History  of  Per- 
|?          sons  and   Events  Connected  Therewith. 

The  strange  and  tragic  story  of  Aaron  Burr's  brilliant 
<§-  and  beautiful  daughter,  unmatched  in  the  pages  of 
<Q-  romance,  is  told  with  compelling  charm,  and  with  all 
Xl  the  author's  subtle  grace  of  style.  Time  and  money  and 

srj_  tireless  research  have  thrown  new  light  on  the  mystery 
j=£  which  has  hitherto  shrouded  the  fate  of  Theodosia  Burr 
V  Alston,  and  the  reader  will  learn  what  has  never  been 
Vj  written  before,  and  what  none  but  those  engaged  in  the 
<S-  search  dreamed  ever  would  be  written. 
f\L  Interwoven  with  her  fascinating  life  story  are  many 

tq_  other  historic  personages  and  events  that  have  exercised 
J=£  a  powerful  influence  on  the  history  of  the  United  States. 
Contains  484  pages  and  50  illustrations,  many  of  them 
<^r  from  rare  photographs  never  before  published.  Hand- 
<5}-  somely  bound  in  Art  Crash. 


f~> 

<& 
<& 


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<§-  THE   C.  M.    CLARK   PUBLISHING   CO 
Boston,  Massachusetts 


§  A 

§ A 


Boy's   Vacation 


By   C.    F.    KING,   JR. 

<§}  "OUBBLING  over  with  a  school-boy's  spirits  and  {§> 
<§}  J3  enthusiasm,  young  King  has  given  us  in  this,  -g> 
<g.  his  first  book,  a  mighty  amusing  and  at  the  45 

^)    same  time  instructive  volume.  3=f 

J?       He  has  a  quick  eye,  a  keen  sense  of  humor,  a    g? 
jg  ready  wit  and  an  appreciation  of  the  beautiful— 
VJ  all  splendid  qualifications  for  a  good  globe-trotter  {§> 
<§}  and  descriptive  writer.  -g> 

<g-  London,  Paris,  Rome,  Naples,  Athens  and  ^ 
^L  Constantinople  take  on  a  new  charm,  when  ^L 
^  described  in  his  bright,  breezy  fashion.  Mr.  § 
g  King's  easy,  boylike,  spicy  descriptions  are  cer-  JX 
9r  tainly  refreshing  after  reading  stereotyped  books  § 
<§}  of  foreign  travel.  {5> 

<g-  With  sixty-eight  illustrations  made  from  snap-  -g, 
^L  shots  taken  by  the  author  himself,  this  is  one  of  r^ 
sr)  the  most  attractive  books  of  European  travel  |=f 
j=^  published  in  many  a  season.  g 

V^  Printed  on  deckle-edge,  hand-made  linen  paper  § 
§  and  handsomely  bound  in  cloth.  An  unusually  {§> 
<g}  acceptable  gift  book  to  old  and  young  alike.  -g> 

§  Price,  $1.50 -g> 

*£>     AT   ALL   NEWSDEALERS    OR    SE'NT    PREPAID    BY    "@* 

H  THE  C.  M.  CLARK  PUBLISHING  CO.  & 
^  Boston,  Massachusetts  g" 


j  Climbing  Upf 
I  to  Nature  § 

<§-  :    :    :   :   By   FLORENCE    J.    LEWIS    :    :    :    :  -g> 

<&  § 

<§•  READ  ABOUT  -g> 

§  Mrs.  Jawkins'  tea  party —  {§> 

<^1  The  grocery  man's  free  outing  to  his  "  paid-ups  " —  _G^> 

The  Christmas  supper  at  the  church —  "^jf 

The  droll  characterization  of  Miss  Beals,  Miss  Pip,  "{§> 

<g.  the  Widow  Smith,  and  other  dwellers  in  McCor-  rg, 

mack's  Circle,  and  you  will  laugh  as  you  have  Jrf 

not  laughed  over  any  book  in  many  a  long  day.  •£§" 

VJ        Scintillating  with  delicious  humor,  full  of  just  the  kind  {§* 

<g.    of  natural  fun  we  have  all  hugely  enjoyed  at  times,    but  r^> 

S    have  never  had  the  wit  to  put  into  words,  its  drollery  JrT 

V   flashes^  back  at  us  in  every  chapter  like  the  ripples  of  a  iS* 

<^1   sunny  brook.  rx, 

<g-  One  chapter  of  such  a  story  is  worth  a  cartload  of  (X 
J=?  "  problem  "  novels.  g* 

1^  But  with  all  its  fun,  there  is  an  underlying  sympathy  ^=f 
13"  for  the  homely  characters  so  faithfully  and  good-humoredly  T5* 
<g.  protrayed.  The  efforts  of  the  gifted  and  lovable  heroine  £J> 
s^  to  lift^them  out  of  their  narrow  interests,  and  her  own  ~f 
rij  charming  romance,  lend  beauty  and  harmony  of  purpose  Thf 
<Q-  to  this  brilliant  story.  _g> 

<g-  Through  the  whole  book  runs  a  delightful  acquaintance  .£J> 
^  with  Nature,  that  softens  and  sweetens  its  exuberant  fun.  §f 

<g}  Fully  illustrated,  handsomely  bound  -g> 

Price,    $1.50  § 

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No  such  book  of  travel  has  been  issued  since  STAN 
LEY'S  African  Books.  Including  the  first  published 
description  of  the  MIDWAY  ISLANDS,  the  strangest 
land  belonging  to  this  country  C.  An  unusual  chat  with 
LILIUOKALANI.  C.  A  remarkable  interview  with 
AGUINALDO.  C.  Exciting  scenes  in  Canton,  Singapore, 
Ceylon,  Arabia,  Egypt.  C.  Photographs  of  VESUVIUS 
IN  ACTION. 


TEEMING     WITH     LIFE     AND     ACTION 


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